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9 

OURT 


AND 



ATJTHOE OF 



“JOSEl'IIINE/* *• LAFAYETTE/’ KT(\ 


BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED BY HENRY HOYT, 

No. 9 Corn HILL. 

1868 . 


2 * 




Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by 
HENUY HOYT, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 


6TE.REOT Y PE1> AT THE 
BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY, 
No. 19 Spring Lane. 



f 7-3f 




PKEFACE. 


The " Court and Camp of David ” was writ- 
ten to present, in popular form, an outline 
history of the great Hebrew monarch and his 
monarchy. His genius neither has been, nor 
is likely soon to be, appreciated by even the 
Christian world generally, because of the 
single crime which threw its shadow over 
his reign. This is also, doubtless, the rea- 
son why we have so few biographies, written 
from the sacred annals, of this wonderful 
man. 

The present humble volume is not designed 
to be a commentary, nor an eulogium ; but an 
impartial yet necessarily incomplete narrative, 
in the light of revelation, of the early life, 

( 3 ) 


4 


PREFACE. 


the regal glory, the martial achievements, the 
musical culture, and the deep religious expe- 
riences, of the "son of Jesse.” 

The many striking lessons, in which his 
career abounds, cannot fail t9 interest and 
benefit every reader of the Scriptures, espe- 
cially the young. 

We are indebted, in the preparation of the 
book, to the suggestive pages of Herder, 
Horne, Kitto, Lowth, and Gilfillan. 

Hoping that it may be no unworthy con- 
tribution to the religious literature of the 
home and Sabbath school, it is given to the 
public, desiring most of all the blessing of 
Israel’s God upon the endeavor to honor him, 
and lead others more deeply and lovingly to 
study his Word. 


p. c. H. 


CONTENTS. 


Part 

PROM THE PALM-TREE’S SHADE TO A THRONE. 

I. The Minstrel Shepherd with his Plocks. 7 
II. A Princely Harper, and a Hero. . . 20 

III. The Fugitive and Exile 43 

IV. The Chieftain and his Achievements. . ',57 

• • < 

}3art Seconti. 

THE KING. AND HIS KINGDOM. 

I. David ascends the Throne. . . .91 

II. The Coronation at Hebron, and the 

Throne in Jerusalem 107 

III. The Closing Scenes of David’s Reign. . 127 

IV. The King’s Cabinet and Household. . . 151 

Part 

THE CAMP OF DAVID. 

I. David’s Military Genius and Culture. . 165 
II. War with the House of Saul. . . 175 * 

( 5 ) 



6 * Contents, 

III. Battles with the Jebusites, the Philis- 

tines, TUB Moabites, the Syrians, the 
■ Edomites, and the Amalekites. . . 185 

IV. Civil War, and the Close of David’s Mil- 

itary Career 213 

fart jFaurtfi. 

DAVID’S MUSIC AND POETRY OF COURT AND 
CAMP. 

I. The Poetry and Music of the Hebrews 
when David was crowned King of Is- 
rael. 265 

II. The Songs of Exile 293 

III. The Songs of the Battle-field. . . 306 

IV. The Psalms of Redemption and of Chris- 

TIA.N Experience. 320 




V 'i 

■% . 



% 







w,\r 


BethleheiQ 


THE 

COURT AND CAMP OF DAVID. ' 


FROM THE PALM-TREE’S SHADE TO A THRONE. 


CHAPTER I. 

THE AIINSTREL SHEPHERD WITH HIS FLOCKS. 

ETHLEHEM ! a name whose very 
sound is musical and stirring to the 
soul. The best music of earth and 
heaven is forever associated with it ; 
and also the highest glory of the Hebrew and 
the heavenly monarchy. For there ” David, 
the son of Jesse,” sang to the melody of 
his harp ; and, ages after, the angels of God 
filled the midnight air with their harmonies. 
From a political horizon, darkened by the 
frown of Jehovah upon the disloyal prayer 
for a king, the regal splendor of Israel rose 

( 7 ) 



8 The Court and Cam^ of David. 

to its zenith under the sceptre of m Bethie- 
hemite. And in this humble city the King 
of kings lay incarnate, while his glory flooded 
the hills around the place of his birth. 

On the eastern side of Bethlehem, across 
the Dead Sea, rose the bold mountains of 
Moab, from which Moses had his first and 
farewell glance of the ” promised land,” and 
beneath whose shadow, until their sad return 
to that city, lived Kuth and Naomi. The 
town lies among hills which are now terraced 
with vineyards, and golden with grain in its 
season. Not far from it, on some green slope, 
or in a quiet valley, was the home of David. 

The family residence was an old home- 
stead. The estate, it seems, fell to the lot of 
Salmon, one of the spies to Jericho, and a 
prince in Judah, when Joshua divided the 
land of Canaan. He married Kahab, who 
saved his life ; and his son Boaz was the 
grandfather of Jesse, and the kinsman of 
Naomi. Boaz married Ruth, the young Mo- 
abitish widow, two and a half centuries before. 
The lovely Ruth, who said to her Jewish 
mother, ” Whither thou goest I will go, and 
where thou lodgest I will lodge; thy people 


The Minstrel Shepherd. 9 

shall be my people, and thy God my God ; 
where thou diest, I will die, and there will I 
be buried,” did not dream that a grandson 
would be born in Bethlehem who should 
be the world’s noblest King. 

The history of David, in its very outline, 
is grander than any other royal annals. He 
Avas the first truly pious monarch in the 
Avorld. . Never before or since, has a nation 
reached its greatest strength and power under 
the sceptre of its second sovereign ; and no 
prince ever equalled him in genius, and influ- 
ence over succeeding generations. It is not 
strange that there should be a fascination, 
which the flight of time does not diminish, 
about this wonderful life. 

Neither the day nor year of David’s birth is 
recorded. We have no pleasant stories of 
his boyhood. How natural is the sigh of 
regret over this silence in revelation ! but in 
his Avord and providence God does not 
gratify human desire and curiosity. His 
oAvn glory and our salvation are ever before 
his infinite mind. 

But someAvhere in Bethlehem David was 
born, about ten hundred and sixty-five years 





lO The Court, and Camf of David, 

before Jesus slept there in a manger. It was 
an ancient town in the land of Canaan, even 
when Jesse’s sheep were grazing on its hill- 
sides, twenty-nine centuries ago. Eachel, the 
beautiful wife of Jacob, died and was buried 
there seven hundred years previously, when 
Isaac was journeying from Padan-aram into 
Palestine. It lay six miles south of Salem, 
or Shalum, the site of Jerusalem, the "city 
of the great King.” 

David in his early youth became a shep- 
herd, watching by day his flocks grazing in 
the fenceless fields. Sitting in the shade of 

« O 

the date-palm, with his harp he beguiled the 
hours, composing the songs which rang out 
sweetly upon the air of his solitude. 

God had ordered the circumstances of the 
young hermit’s life as if on purpose to cul- 
tivate his genius for poetry and music. The 
"Father of lights” knows how to educate for 
highest usefulness, and its enduring fame, his 
children, and will guide and aid the trust- 
ing, earnest soul aspiring to reach the goal 
of its true destiny. 

Around the shepherd were the gentle, 
patient, obedient flocks. Between him and 



/•( »• » • 



Pavid the Sljepberd. Page IQ. 













* V^y ' _*^lmd-/ • 



The Minstrel Shefherd, n 

the bold summits bordering the sea, there 
was a rich and varied landscape of vines, 
with their delicious clusters trailing field and 
forest; and, beyond these, the bleached and 
barren cliffs. Above him was the glorious 
sky of the east, resplendent by day with sun- 
light and many-hued clouds, and at night mag- 
nificent with the moon and stars. 

Often, while looking towards- the Dead Sea, 
whose misty gulf was visible in the distance, 
David must have been lost in meditation upon 
the j^ast history of his nation. The calling 
of Abraham ; the worldly, hital choice of 
Lot, who "pitched his tent towards Sodom;” 
the bondage in Egypt ; the pkgues, the mid- 
night departure, and the Eed Sea’s passage ; 
and, to crown the marvellous deliverance, the 
long, weary wanderings in the wilderness ; — 
occupied many of the hours of the undisturbed 
Oriental days. 

He knew why there was a king in Israel. 

The first form of government over men, a 
theocracy, his devout spirit still loved. The- 
ocracy is from the Greek word Theos; that is, 
God. For Jehovah ruled by written com- 
mands and revelations of his will, by mes- 



12 The Court and Cam-p of David. 

sages from heaven, dreams, signs, and 
wonders. He would have continued to be 
the only and welcome sovereign of his peo- 
ple, had they been content with his paternal 
care. The patriarchal rule was like that of 
the family, only extending over the large 
company of servants and others connected 
with a household. Gradually the separate 
plantations became united in a social com- 
pact for mutual protection, having a chief. 
Still the government was a theocracy ; God 
was the recosrnized Kins:. 

When Israel was made a distinct nation, the 
twelve tribes, which sprang from the twelve 
sons of Jacob, had each also a leader. These 
" elders ” were assembled wdienever any mat- 
ter of general interest demanded their united 
counsels. 

The high priest was the visible representa- 
tive of the Kedeemer of his people. 

The judges, who were appointed after the 
Hebrews entered Canaan, resembled "overn- 
ors, having power to declare war and make 
peace for the nation, but wearing* no badges 
of distinction. Jehovah revealed throuo-h 
them his will, and was still the glorious King 


The Minstrel Shepherd. 13 

of Israel. With the increase in population, 
and decrease in religious feeling, the Hebrews 
gradually ceased to appreciate their high dis- 
tinction, and, dazzled with the pomp and 
povver of pagan monarchies around them, 
became tired of the simplicity and blessings 
of God’s holy sovereignty. Besides, there 
were dissensions and bitter strifes among the 
people attending their departures from the 
Lord. 

It was with the Jewish nation, as it will 
be with the great American republic, if Puri- 
tan faith and works decline, until practical 
atheism prevails in our " goodly land.” The 
people will throw otf wholesome restraints, 
become factious, and corrupt in morals, until 
a monarchy will be the natural resort of the 
people as a protection against their own pas- 
sions. 

David was familiar with this transition from 
a theocracy to monarchy, attended by the 
faithful warning of God against the mad 
experiment. Saul, the son of Kish, a Ben- 
jamite, and a splendid man in personal 
appearance, but with a bad heart, was the 
first monarch. David was contented to live 



14 The Court a^id Camf of David. 

quietly in Bethlehem, while Saul and his 
counsellors were conducting the frequent 
wars and the affairs of state. Probably he 
did not know that his wicked sovereign was 
the victim of remorse, goaded by his evil 
passions to despondency and despair. His 
gentle yet brave spirit was satisfied with his 
flocks, his harp, and his home. One day, 
while David w’as thus living in romantic 
seclusion, dreaming of no higher destiny, 
God was speaking about him to the prophet 
Samuel. This aged and excellent seer, to- 
gether wdth his sous, was the last of the 
judges. 

Whether the Lord called to his venerable 
servant from the clear sky above him, or as 
he did to the child many years before, with a 
still small voice heard within, we do not 
know. But the communications were per- 
fectly understood, and were worthy of their 
source. 

Samuel was at Kamah ; and God told him 
to go to Bethlehem and anoint a son of one 
Jesse, to be the abandoned Saul’s successor to 
the throne of Israel. 

Samuel was deeply troubled. For if the 


The Minstrel Shepherd. 15 

king should hear of the visit to Bethlehem 
and its object, he would be slain for treason. 
But God was better to him than his fears, as 
he is to ever}^ trusting one. Again, he 
spoke to his servant from the ” excellent 
glory,” and bade him select a victim for sac- 
rifice, and inform the king that he was going 
to Bethlehem , to make an ofifering unto the 
Lord. 

This was true ; but it was designed to con- 
ceal the marvellous scene which soon would 
transpire by the altar. 

Samuel then took a heifer and started for 
Bethlehem, musing along his solitary way 
upon the strange events before him. At 
length vine-clad, olive-crowned Bethlehem 
burst upon his thoughtful vision. A little 
later, and there were seen coming towards 
him the elders of the city, intensely excited 
at the unexpected appearance of the venerable 
and famous seer. They tremblingly inquired 
if he came upon a peaceful errand. Ho 
assured them he only wanted an altar for 
sacrifice. Their fears were calmed, and they 
accepted an invitation to attend the sacred 
service. 



i6 The Court and Cani'p of David, 

Soon the stones were piled, and the victim 
ready. Among the worshippers was the 
household of Jesse, excepting the youngest 
son, about twenty years of age. This lad was 
left with his flocks, either because it was un- 
safe to leave them unguarded, or Samuel may 
have told Jesse his secret mission, and the 
father thought David too young to be in- 
cluded among the candidates for the crown. 
When the sacred rite was over, Samuel com- 
menced his prophetic scrutiny of the noble 
brotherhood — a group of sous rarely seen 
in any age or land. 

Eliab was the eldest. A finely-developed 
man in every respect, he attracted at once and 
intensely the attention of the prophet. He 
looked upon the princely form and mien of 
Eliab, his ripened manhood and flashing eye, 
expecting to receive the divine intimation 
that he was to be the successor of Saul. 

Instead of this agreement with Samuel’s 
choice, Jehovah said to him, in accents un- 
heard by those around him, ”Look not on his 
countenance, nor on the height of his stature ; 
because I have refused him ; for the Lord 
seeth not as man seeth: for man looketh on 


The Minstrel Shej>Jierd, 17 

the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh 
on the heart.” 

O, how deeply should we feel this great 
and stirring truth in our judgment of our- 
selves and of earthly good and glory ! 

Eliab retired from the ordeal ; and the six 
remaining brothers present passed in succes- 
sion before the prophet-judge, while all 
eyes watched the little procession with silent 
interest. With painful suspense Samuel 
looked upon the last of the number, for no 
signal of the Lord’s choice of a king came 
from his '^secret pavilion.” Samuel was per- 
jDlexed and bewildered. Turning to Jesse, he 
inquired if these were all the children he had. 
The astonished hither replied that there was 
besides them, the youngest boy, tending the 
sheep. The intelligence was like a shaft of 
light in a darkened room, to the troubled 
mind of Samuel. 

With the earnestness of haste and hope he 
said, "Send and fetch him; for we will not 
sit down till he come hither.” A messenger 
was despatched to the hill-sides of Bethlehem 
for the lonely shepherd. How the summons 
must have startled the dreaming poet, and 
2 



1 8 The Court and Camj> of David. 

awakened in him an inexpressible wonder ! 
What could Samuel want of him, was the 
question wdiich stirred his heart as he has- 
tened to the altar. 

The moment the handsome, manly, and 
modest shepherd-boy stood before the solemn 
seer, the voice of the Lord came to his listen- 
ing soul, ” Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” 

Samuel raised the horn of oil above the fair 
young brow, and poured upon it the conse- 
crating seal. We can easily imagine the 
expression of amazement that spread over the 
faces of the spectators around the shrine of 
sacrifice ; while, upon the bewildered prince 
fell the breath of a divine inspiration. The 
gratified, tranquil prophet returned to Kamah, 
and the son of Jesse to his fiocks. How long 
afterwards he watched them with tender care, 
often recalling with prayerful interest the pro- 
phetic signal of a royal destiny, we are not 
told. But it is evident that he was the same 
unambitious minstrel shepherd as before, 
waiting upon the sovereign will that had 
called him to be the heir of a throne. 

Although, long ago, God ceased to select 
men for high places of power, or any service 



The Minstrel Shepherd. ip 

for him, by a direct revelation, he does, by 
his providence and spirit, choose, for the ac- 
complishment of his purposes, persons fitted 
for a crisis in human affairs. 

\^ashington and Lincoln are shining exam- 
ples of this overruling wisdom, sometimes, to 
the surprise of a nation, deciding the choice 
of erring men. And in our life, if loyal to 
him, Ave shall see God’s guiding hand as dis- 
tinctly as did Samuel and David, leading us 
through all earth’s discipline to the splendors 
of the eternal throne ! 



20 The Court and Camf of David. 

CHAPTER II. 

A PEINCELY HARPER, AND A HERO. 

HERE came a new surprise to the 
sheep pasture and home of Jesse. 

See those men hastening across the 
fields near Bethlehem towards the 
flocks among which David is harping or mus- 
ing alone ! They arrest now the eye of the 
startled shepherd, and he rises to meet the 
strangers. They wear the uniform of the 
king’s servants, and surprise the shepherd 
with the royal summons to the palace. For- 
saken of God, and tortured with remorse and 
fears, Saul was advised to try the soothing 
influence of David’s music. His wretched 
condition resembled that of the demoniacs 
of the New Testament, whom Christ alone 
could cure of their terrible malady. 

The next scene is in the dwelling of Jesse. 
The good man’s consent to part with the lad 




A Princely Harder ^ and a Hero. 21 

was sought and obtained. According to cus- 
tom, he gave David a present for Saul. It 
was a plain gift, in keeping with the rural 
pursuits of the family — bread, a bottle of 
wine, and a kid. The youthful visitor and 
his present were received at Gibeah with 
grateful condescension, and a message sent 
to Jesse that he must allow his son to re- 
main in the palace. 

Saul made David his armor-bearer, as a 
mark of delight in his music and admiring 
interest in his lovely character. When, or 
why, he left the king we are not informed. 
The immediate occasion for his genius may 
have disappeared in the more cheerful moods 
of Saul and the occupation of his thoughts 
with new and pressing cares of his kingdom. 

David, we cannot doubt, gladly retired 
from the excitements and burdensome display 
of royalty to his peaceful home in Bethlehem 
and the greeting of his bleating flocks. What 
a contrast between the monarch on his throne 
and the shepherd on the hill-slope ! One had 
grieved from his heart the Spirit of God, and 
was hastening to his doom; the other was 
"growing in grace,” the favorite of the Most 



22 The Court and Camf of David. 

High ! David knew not the way of the Lord 
with him then, who was wisely and Avonder- 
fully educating him for his resplendent future. 
The shepherd had new themes for thought in 
his solitary hours. He had seen the mys- 
teries of royalty, its temptations and respon- 
sibilities. More than this, if possible, he had 
an opportunity to study the character of 
Israel’s first king, soon to be his greatest 
enemy and bitter persecutor. With the glory 
of a throne as it is seen by the people, and 
its shadow throAvn back upon personal and 
private life, haunting his thought, he sat 
down upon the highlands of Bethlehem to 
meditate, pray, and sing to the tones of his 
harp, until God should call him anew to pub- 
lic duties and their trials of his faith. 

But there are exciting interludes to the 
tranquil life of the shepherd. The sun has 
sunk below the horizon, and the glowing 
eye of the solitary youth is watching the 
deepening shadows that fall upon the fine 
panorama of natural scenery spreading away 
to the rim of fading light. His reverie is 
broken by the appearance of a dark and 
frightful form from the Eed Sea’s wilderness. 



A Princely Harder ^ and a Hero. 23 

A bear, fierce with hunger, springs upon his 
flock. The young shepherd, lifting to God 
his prayer for help, rushes to the rescue ; 
and lo ! in a moment the wild beast lies 
slain at his feet. 

Then, again, his solitary music and medi- 
tations are interrupted by a more desperate 
encounter. A lion steals from his lair upon 
the unoflending charge ; and nerved by the 
same might of God which gave him an easy 
victory over the bear, David puts his hand 
into the mane of this nobler foe, and wrench- 
ing him from the bleeding lamb, adds another 
victim to the trophies of his heroic trust in 
the Lord. What a striking illustration are 
these scenes cf the Great Shepherd’s care of 
his sheep, of whom he has said, "And none 
shall be able to pluck them out of my hands.” 
Blessed indeed are they, and too glorious for 
human thought their eternal fold, whose walls 
are jasper and its gates pearl ! 

David did not then fully learn the lesson 
for himself which the " God of Jacob ” was 
imparting, of conquering power that would 
soon make him the victor over a mighty and 
boastful enemy of his "chosen people.” 



24 The Court and Cam-p of David. 

There never was a reallj great, strong, 
and holy sonl, without much reflection and 
prayer. Resolutions to be, and do, good, 
without such culture of the Holy Spirit, will 
pass away before the hot glare of the world’s 
day, like the ” morning cloud and the early 
dew.” 

While the Bethlehemite w^as communing 
with God and nature — bending over his harp 
with the rapture of a loving spirit — there w^as 
around his solitude the mustering of hostile 
forces for combat. 

The army of the Philistines, an ancient 
tribe of pagans which gave the name Pales- 
tine to the country, encamped a few miles 
north-west of the site of Jerusalem. Saul’s 
troops lay along the mountain range overlook- 
ing the valley of Elah, near Bethlehem. The 
opposing battalions were thus in full view of 
each other. Among the white tents upon the 
confronting slopes there were preparations for 
a great and decisive conflict. The awful sus- 
pense which always precedes the "clash of 
arms” spread through the camps and hung 
over the green field of coming strife. War- 
scenes were then quite unlike those of modern 



A Princely Harfer^ and a Hero. 25 

battle. No grim ordnance frowned upon the 
encircling heights, nor musket or rifle hail 
was poured among living men. The "glitter- 
ing spear,” the sword, and the simple sling 
were the principal weapons of death. 

While these armies were watching each oth- 
er, and expecting soon to move down into the 
arena of deadly conflict, a strange spectacle 
attracted the eager gaze of the Hebrew battal- 
ions. From the Philistines’ camp came forth 
a solitary and gigantic warrior attended by his 
armor-bearer, carrying before him his shield. 
He was more than nine feet in height, and of 
corresponding size and strength. Upon his 
brow shone a huge helmet of brass ; upon the 
rest of his body was clasped a coat of mail 
weighing one hundred and fiftj^-six pounds, 
with greaves of brass, or brazen covering for 
the legs, and a target of the same metal be- 
tween his shoulders. His spear-point weighed 
eighteen pounds. It is not strange that when 
he strode forth from the camp towards the 
Hebrew lines, that he inspired terror. There 
were no shot or shell to crush in that armor, 
and his immense spear, "like a weaver’s beam,” 
would make havoc with a host of common men. 



26 The Court and Camf of David, 

The thousands of Israel are set in battle- 
array ; and behind their proud champion lie 
the ranks of the pagan foe. For a brief time 
ominous silence reigns, broken only by the 
echo of Goliath’s haughty step. When fairly 
out upon the open field of expected battle, the 
mighty man breaks the stillness with a loud, 
defiant challenge, ringing along the wild de- 
clivities, and sending a fresh alarm through- 
out the army of Saul. Listen to the words 
that fall from his lips and echo from hill and 
valley to the peaceful sky — an insult to the 
King of kings : ” Why are ye come out to set 
your battle In array? Am not I a Philistine, 
and ye servants to Saul? Choose you a man 
for you, and let him come down to me. If 
he be able to fight wdth me, and to kill me, 
then will we be your servants ; but if I pre- 
vail against him, and kill him, then shall ye 
be our servants, and serve us. I defy,” he 
tauntingly added, "the armies of Israel this 
day; give me a man, that we may fight to- 
gether.” 

The challenge was repeated, morning and 
evening, days; while frequent skirmishes 
were taking place between small detachments 



A Princely Harder ^ and a Hero. 27 

of the rival armies. Jesse, now an old man, 
and unable to visit the camp of Saul, felt anx- 
ious to hear from his three elder sons, who 
were in the Hebrew army. He called David 
from his flocks, and told him to go with an 
epha of parched corn and ten loaves of bread 
for his brethren, and a present of ten cheeses 
for the commander of the thousand to which 
they belonged. The epha was equal to three 
pecks and three pints, and the cheeses were 
slices of coagulated milk, which had been 
strained, and after it had grown hard, cut in 
pieces. "Look,” said he, "how thy brethren 
fare, and take their pledge” — that is, some 
token of their welfare, which had previously 
been agreed upon, and which David was to 
bring back to Jesse. 

David was on his way the next morning at 
an early hour. He arrived at the camp of 
the Israelites just as their hosts, going forth to 
meet the enemy, rent the air with their loud 
shouts. The Philistines, in battle line, were 
preparing to descend the mountain. Leaving 
the extra ration which he had brought for his 
brothers in the care of the proper officer, he 
hastened forward into the midst of the army. 



28 The Coitrt and Cam^ of David. 

found his brothers, told his errand, and ex- 
changed with them friendly salutations. While 
talking with them, Goliath advanced before 
the army of the Philistines repeating his blas- 
phemous challenge so loud that it reached the 
ears of David. "Have ye seen,” said one to 
another, " this man that is come up ? Surely 
to defy Israel is he come up ; and it shall be 
that the man who killeth him, the king will 
enrich him with great riches, and will give 
him his daughter, and make his father’s house 
free in Israel.” 

To be sure that he understood them, and 
that what they said was not the mere result 
of the alarm which they felt, David proposed 
the inquiry to several who were near him, 
" What shall be done to the man that killeth 
this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach 
from Israel?” adding, with a modest, though 
pious, intrepidity of soul, " Who is this un- 
circumcised Philistine, that he should defy 
the armies of the living God?” 

There was a man near by who knew well 
the spirit of the indignant youth ; it w^as 
Eliab, the eldest brother of David. Even in 
the retired vale of Bethlehem the occasions 



A Princely Harfer^ and a Hero. 29 

bad not been wanting to show that the youno-- 
est son of the family had a measure of 
courage and strength which bordered on the 
miraculous. 

His brother’s jealousy, dating back to Sam- 
uel’s mysterious visit to Bethlehem, and his 
chagrin at his own cowardice, was expressed 
in passionate language: "Why earnest thou 
hither, and with whom hast thou left those 
few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy 
pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart ; for 
thou art come down that thou mightest see 
the battle.” 

The reply of David was manly, decided, 
and respectful . 

*" What have I now done ? Is there not a 
cause?” What, indeed, had he done to call 
forth this reproachful language ? 

Some one informed Saul of David’s heroic 
bearing and speech. The king sent for him, 
and, with astonishment, listened to his calm 
words of cheer : " Let no man’s heart fail 
because of him ; thy servant will go and fight 
with this Philistine.” 

How unassuming the simple, yet resolute, 
declaration I And such always is the expres- 



30 The Court and Ca^n^ of David, 

sion of true valor ; fearless and modest, beau- 
tifully and sublimely so, when God is the 
"strength and portion of the soul.” 

The shepherd proceeds with a grandlj^ sim- 
ple but convincing argument in his own 
behalf : — 

"Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and 
there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb 
out of the flock; and I went after him, and 
smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth ; 
and when he arose against me, I caught him 
by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. 
Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear ; 
and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be 
as one of them, seeing he has defied the 
armies of the living God. The Lord that 
delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and 
out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me 
out of the hand of this Philistine.” 

"Go,” he exclaimed, "and the Lord be with 
thee.” Saul’s admiration was awakened, 
while his fears made him quite willing to 
test this devout intrepidity. 

He then ordered his attendants to put his 
own armor upon David ; the heavy helmet of 
brass upon his head, and the coat of mail 



A Princely Harder ^ and a Hero, 31 

on his body. He also girded 011 the sword 
of Saul. 

The 3^outhful champion of Israel started for 
the field, but soon came back to Saul, and 
declared he could not wear the monarch’s 
defensive suit. He had not tried it, nor was 
he accustomed to the use of the sword. 
Handing the entire equipment back to the 
king’s officers, he took his staff in hand and 
departed for the battle-field. The only weap- 
on he carried was his sling. Many of the 
ancients were very skilful in the use of it. 
We read of terrible havoc made with slings 
in war; of shields and armor penetrated by 
the smooth stones which were hurled with 
force nearly equal to that of a rifle-ball. 
David went to a brook, and to be sure of 
enough for the fight, took five pebbles, laid 
them in his shepherd’s bag, and, with his 
sling dangling carelessly from his hand, has- 
tened forward to meet Goliath. The champion 
arrogantly strode into the arena ; and when 
near enough to ^ee the young face blooming 
with health, and the comparatively slender 
form, indignation and scorn flashed in his e^^e, 
and burned on his lips: "And the Philistine 



32 The Court and Camf of David. 

said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest 
to me with staves ? And the Philistine cursed 
David by his gods.” After this paroxysm of 
rage, he fixed his gaze upon the shepherd, and, 
with a lofty disdain, accepted his offer to con- 
tend for the victory : ” Come to me, and I will 
give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air and 
to the beasts of the field.” 

The haughty threat stirred the brave heart 
of loyalty to God, and David addressed the 
champion in a strain of true and modest 
eloquence : 

"Thou comest to me with a sword, and with 
a spear, and with a shield ; but I come to thee 
in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of 
the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. 
This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine 
hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine 
head from thee ; and I will give the carcasses 
of the host of Philistines this day unto the 
fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of 
the earth ; that all the earth may know that 
there is a God in Israel. And all this assem- 
bly shall know that the Lord saveth not with 
sword and spear ; for the battle is the Lord’s, 
and he wdll give you into our hands.” 



A Princely Harder ^ 'and a Hero. 33 

What lofty courage and humble faith I It 
has the sublime and holy fearlessness of Paul’s 
triumph over spiritual foes when he says, "I 
have fouirht a "ood fiofht.” 

The bold speech rang out upon the soft air 
of Palestine, and floated to the listening ears 
of thousands. 

It was too much for Goliath ; his wrath was 
in a flame, and he moved with haste towards 
David. The son of Jesse did not wait for his 
approach ; he would have the armies looking 
silently on know that he was ready to meet 
his foe — glad to try Jehovah’s might against 
a heathen giant. They behold him running 
towards Goliath, sling in hand ! What amaze- 
ment spread along the lines of embattled ene- 
emies, mingled with pity for the audacious 
boy! 

When within sling-range of his foe, he took 
from his bag a stone, placed it in the sling, 
and, in another moment, it went whizzing 
through the air, straight towards the forehead 
of the Philistine, sinking into his brain. A 
sudden dizziness seized that wounded brain ; 
a dimness crept over his just now passion- 
lighted eyes ; and then, reeling convulsively, 
3 



34 Court and Cam-p of David. 

he fell, like an oak uprooted by a blast, upon 
the plain. David sprang upon the prostrate 
body, with both hands laid hold of the heavy 
sword by its side, drew the blade from the 
scabbard, and cut off the champion’s head. 

The Philistines saw that the day was lost, 
and beat a hasty retreat. With a shout of 
exultation echoing along the summits, the 
Hebrews pursued the flying host, until by 
treading upon each other, and continued 
slaughter, the rout was complete. 

The victors returned, rejoicing as if they 
had won the splendid triumph. There is a 
great, rich, spiritual truth concealed in this 
encounter. 

We call the sling of the young conqueror 
faith., in which was laid the symbol of God’s 
power, whose hiding is in the smallest thing 
he has made. The swift motion, which hurled 
the pebble to the giant’s forehead, is the sym- 
bol of prayer, ” which moves the hand that 
moves the world.” This power, in answer to 
prayer, went from Jesus to the withered hand, 
and clothed it with strength and beauty again. 

We have a sleepless foe unceasingly defy- 
ing the God of Israel, and we can only con- 




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A Princely Harfer^ and a Hero. 35 

quer with faith that makes a single promise, 
or a passage of God’s word, fitted to oiir case, 
winged with prayer, ” sharper than any two- 
edged sword.” 

David, bore the head of Goliath to Jeru- 
salem, having laid the armor in the tent of the 
dead combatant. Why this trophy was taken 
to Jerusalem, we have no account; for the 
city was then in possession of the Jebusites, 
who were jDagans. But, according to Chron- 
icles xxix. 29, the history of David was 
written by Gad, Samuel, and Nathan; and 
there may be unaccountable statements, while 
there is, after all, as in the story of Jesus 
written by the four evangelists, perfect har- 
mony in the general narrative. 

The gory relic was kept as evidence of his 
claim to the promised reward for slaying the 
dreaded warrior of Gath. 

Saul asked his chieftain, Abner, who the 
successful champion was; but he could not 
tell. The king directed that officer to make 
inquiry. Abner met David with his hand 
buried in the knotted locks of the giant’s 
head, and took him to Saul. The monarch 
asked him of his origin. The reply was in 



36 The Court and Ca^nf of David. 

keeping with the unostentatious and transpar- 
ently honest character of David : "I am the 
son of thy servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.” 

We think of reasons why Saul should not 
have recognized David, and yet there will 
always remain a mystery around this singular 
forgetfulness. 

The shepherd of Bethlehem may have been 
changed very much by the lapse of time since 
he was in the royal palace ; and the king had 
passed through deep and dark experiences, 
and exciting scenes, which doubtless effaced 
many impressions of former years. The 
playing of a shepherd boy on his harp for a 
few days, or weeks, or even months, would 
not be likely to make a very strong impres- 
sion on his mind. Still, the incident is another 
instance of silence in revelation when an ex- 
planation would gratify our human curiosity. 

There was a deeply-interested listener to 
the conversation between Saul and David — a 
young man of kindred soul with the Bethle- 
hemite — Jonathan, the king’s son. Whether 
he recollected the previous visit to the royal 
abode we have no intimation. And it is dif- 
ficult to account for the remarkable refine- 



A Princely Harder ^ and a Hero. 37 

ment and magnanimity of nature in the heir- 
apparent to the crown, whose father was so 
demoniac in character. There must have 
been something good in the mother — an 
amiable and sensitive spirit, which impressed 
itself on her boy. 

History does not record a finer example of 
unselfish friendship than that which glowed in 
the breast of Jonathan, while he looked upon 
the conqueror and heard his gentle yet cour- 
ageous words. His " soul was knit with the 
soul of David.” 

The same day Saul .assigned to David a 
place in the royal household, and told him he 
must not return again to his humble home. 
This honorable position awakened no envy in 
the breast of Jonathan — no fear of a rival. 
His heart bounded with delight to know 
that the being he loved " as his own soul ” was 
to be near him. To have the bond of attach- 
ment strong as any act on their part could 
make it, he proposed to enter into a formal 
covenant of affection and fidelity, lending to 
their friendship the sanctions and seal of 
religion. Then Jonathan took oflf his prince- 
ly robes, and put them on David ; girded him 



38 The Court and Camf of David, 

with his sword, and handed him his belt, bow, 
and quiver. Saul gave to David the command 
of his men of war. The shepherd was thus 
raised at once to the highest distinction in the 
palace, attracting the admiring wonder of all' 
the monarch’s retinue. 

Not long after, David was returning from a 
military expedition against the Philistines ; 
and the women in the towms along the way 
came out to give him an ovation worthy of 
his gallantry, singing and playing on instru- 
ments in responsive chants : " Saul has slain 
thousands ! ” to which the loud and melodious 
answer was, "And David his ten thousands !” 

This imposing display, and greater praise 
bestowed on David than was rendered to him, 
enraged the king, who saw the prospect of a 
successor in his former favorite — ra change of 
dynasty to the family of Jesse. Saul deter- 
mined to slay the Bethlehemite. The very 
next day "the evil spirit came upon him,” 
and he " prophesied in the midst of his 
house.” Whether he affected sacrilegiously 
to be a seer, or bitter predictions of his own 
approaching doom were extorted from him, it 
is impossible to know. That his state of 



A Princely Harder ^ and a Hero, 39 

mind was fearfully bad is evident from the fact 
of David’s presence with his harp to quiet his 
turbulent soul. The princely harper swept 
the strings in vain ; the king’s brow darkened 
with every new burst of melody, until his 
wrath flashed forth like the bolt from the 
cloud, sending the javelin from his hand 
towards the heart of the minstrel. God 
turned the shining barb aside, and David 
fled from the face of the king. The next 
expression of hate was relieving him from 
his command, and appointing him captain 
over a thousand men. 

Without complaint, or change of manly 
deportment, he adapted himself to his new 
position, and retained the affectionate interest 
of the people. Saul did not like to murder 
his victim ; but die he must, was the decree 
of a tryant. To secure its fulfilment he 
promised his daughter Merab in marriage, 
if he would play the hero well ; in other 
words, expose himself to the enemy. 

David won his promised bride, but Saul 
broke his pledge ; probably to provoke him to 
do or say something rash, that would disgrace 
him, and make summary punishment justi- 


40 The Court and Cam^ of Davids 

fiable. Learning that another daughter, 
Michal, loved David, the king proposed that 
his hated captain should slay a hundred of the 
hostile Philistines, and marry Michal for the 
reward of his gallantry. With his band he 
made a raid into the country of the enemy, 
and killed two hundred. men. 

Saul began to discern the sublime secret of 
David’s success. ” God was with him^* — the 
key-note of all true achievement, and the 
assurance of a coronation on the judgment- 
day ! 

With the ripening character and rising fame 
of David deepened the conspiracy of Saul 
against his life. He threw olf all conceal- 
ment of his purpose, and commanded Jon- 
athan and all his servants to get him out of 
the way. Jonathan reported the open design 
upon his existence, and told him to hide until 
morning ; and meanwhile he could commune 
Avith his father, and plead for his friend’s life. 
The advocate managed his cause well, refer- 
ring eloquently to David’s deliverance of 
Israel, and the guilt of shedding innocent 
blood. The monarch relented, and the Beth- 



A Princely Harder ^ and a Hero, 41 

lehemite returned to the royal household 
again. 

After more victories under the heroic com- 
mand of David, he sat one day with his harp, 
sweeping its strings with his wonted power, 
filling all the palace with its subduing har- 
monies, when suddenly the whir of the 
flying javelin fell on his ear ; and in another 
instant the weapon pierced the wall, and 
hung there, while David escaped. 

Saul sent messengers after him, who fol- 
io w^ed him to his own home, to watch for his 
appearance in the morning, and kill him. 
Michal apprised her husband of the peril, let 
him down by a cord from the window, and 
put an effigy in the bed where he had lain. 
When the assassins inquired for David, Mi- 
chal said he was sick; and wffien the cruel 
tyrant commanded them to kill him, lo ! 
there was only an image. 

Saul vented his anger upon Michal; but 
she again resorted to falsehood, pretending 
that he threatened her life unless she w^ould 
assist him in his flight. The thwarted king 
was compelled to nurse his impotent revenge. 



42 The Court and Cam^ of David, 

To such a condition of misanthropic gloom, 
Satanic ambition, and murderous rage, had 
the God-forsaken monarch come — and he the 
first sovereign of the ” chosen people.” 

What, indeed, is man of any age in life, or 
position, when the Lord has said, ” Joined to 
his idols, let him alone.” 

And no child, who trifles with the Holy 
Spirit’s gentle calls, and hardens his heart, can 
tell when God may see it necessary to depart 
forever from the resisting soul. 

“ There is a time, we know not when, 

A point, we know not where. 

That marks the destiny of men 
To glory or despair. 

“ There is a line, by us unseen. 

That crosses every path — 

The hidden boundary between 
God’s mercy and his wrath.” 




The T'ugitive and Exile, 43 

CHAPTER III. 

THE FUGITIVE AND EXILE. 

FTER the scene of royal passion at 
Gilgal, and David’s flight, he next 
appears at Ramah. How beautiful 
the contrast between the palace he 
left and the refuge to which he was wel- 
comed ! 

In the little hamlet of Naioth, nestling on 
that upland^ lived the gifted and noble Sam- 
uel, amid the shadows of a tranquil old age. 
Around him were gathered a company of 
seers, living in their humble abodes, and re- 
ceiving the last instruction of his lips. 

The morning light kindling upon the sum- 
mits, and the farewell smile of day lingering 
there, were symbols of the heavenly glory 
which, invisibly to mortal eyes, gave a sa- 
cred peace and beauty to that " school of the 
prophets.” 




44 The Court and Camp of David, 

David had not forgotten the anointing at 
Bethlehem, and knew well the holy character 
and wisdom of the patriarchal hermit to whom 
he directed his steps. Both naturally thought 
there was left in the king's heart sufBcient 
reverence for the sacred seclusion, to prevent 
a hostile intrusion upon the hallowed retreat 
of God’s servants. But the desperate Saul, 
having learned where David was, sent oflScers 
to seize and bring him to Gilgal. 

These messengers of the king hastened to- 
wards Naioth, and were met by the Spirit of 
the Lord, as was Balaam when bribed to curse 
Israel, and suddenly became, for the time, 
themselves prophets. They were thus mys- 
teriously restrained from securing the object 
of their search. 

When the tidings of the startling rebuke 
reached Saul, his proud and deluded heart 
was the more exasperated, and he commis- 
sioned others to go and take captive the son 
of Jesse. They in turn came under the di- 
vine influence, and joined the seers. Then 
the haughty, passionate monarch determined 
to be himself the avenger of his fancied 
Wongs. 



The Fugitive and Exile, 45 

As he came near to Kamah, he stopped at 
a great well in Sechor, which brought people 
together to draw water, and inquired where 
Samuel and David were. Hearing that they 
were at Naioth, he hastened towards that 
place. While on his way " the Spirit of God 
was upon him also, and he went on and 
prophesied,” uttering supplications to the 
Lord, with sacred songs, and possibly some 
predictions of the future, ” until he came to 
Naioth in Kamah.” There he laid aside his 
robes and external garments, and continued, 
under a divine influence, in the exercises pe- 
culiar to the prophets, all that day and at 
night, in Samuel’s presence. It was a strange 
scene — the warlike Saul at Naioth, a compan- 
ion of Samuel and his pupils. The surprise 
that everywhere attended the report of the 
king’s new experience called forth the excla- 
mation which became a proverb in Israel : " Is 
Saul also among the prophets?” 

This providential defeat of the royal per- 
secutor Tvas followed by a truce in his san- 
guinary work. It was improved by David 
for his own safety. Fleeing from Naioth, he 



46 The Court and Camf of David, 

directed his steps to Gibeah to meet his de- 
voted friend Jonathan. 

The grieving fugitive made an indignant 
appeal to the king’s son : ” What have I done ? 
what is my iniquity? what is my sin before 
thy father, that he seeketh my life?” Jon- 
athan, unwilling to believe that his father was 
still conspiring against David, could only an- 
swer, ”It is not so.” 

But the persecuted exile had bitterly learned 
the relentless hate of the monarch, and assured 
his noble friend that their mutual attachment 
made his father conceal from him the dark 
designs of evil ; adding, with the terrible ear- 
nestness of appalling fear, " Truly as the Lord 
liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a 
step between me and death.” 

eJonathan was alarmed, and with unselfish 
fidelity immediately placed himself at David’s 
disposal, saying, "Whatsoever thy soul de- 
sireth, I will even do it for thee.” 

The "new moon” was a sacred festival, cel- 
ebrated upon the monthly return of the silver 
crescent in the sky, and appointed to guard 
the people against the heathen worship of the 
" Queen of Night.” The day after the inter- 



The Fugitive and Exile. 47 

view of David with Jonathan, this feast oc- 
curred, and both of the young princes were 
expected to be among the guests at the 
palace. 

But David resolved to hide himself in a 
secluded spot not far from the banqueting- 
hall, and wait there until Jonathan brought 
tidings of the effect of his absence upon Saul. 
If, when the tyrant missed his harper, and 
was told that Jesse’s son had gone home to 
attend the yearly sacrifice offered at that time, 
he calmly replied, ”It is well,” then it would 
be safe to venture again into the king’s pres- 
ence. Should his rage be excited, David must 
seek a more remote and secure retreat. How 
he could learn the result, was the anxious in- 
quiry. Jonathan’s genius and love had founcl 
an answer. 

He simply replied to the questioning of his 
agitated companion, ”Come, let us go into the 
field.” The two friends walked away to the 
solitary plain, where no ear or 'eye but Je- 
hovah’s would hear or see their communing 
together. They sadly talked of the king’s 
unreasonable enmity, and gave expression to 
their mutual love, beneath the open sky. 



48 The Court and Cam^ of David. 

whose serenity and glory seemed a mockery 
of their lonely and bitter sorrow. 

Jonathan, with expressions of the deepest 
sincerity and devotion, promised David to 
convey to him his father’s mood and purpose, 
demanding in return — when his friend, ac- 
cording to the Lord’s design, ascended the 
throne — a kind and honorable remembrance 
of himself and family. The covenant of affec- 
tion and fidelity was ratified in the most sol- 
emn manner. Jonathan was now ready to 
disclose his plan of protection to David. The 
fugitive w^as to hide himself upon his return 
from Bethlehem the third day, near a stone, 
then, doubtless, named Ezel^ which means, 
that shoivetJi the way. 

The signal of Saul’s feelings and purpose 
was to be Jonathan’s pastime in archery. 
With his attendant he would repair to the 
field, at the appointed time, and shoot his 
arrows past the rock. If, when the young 
man ran to pick them up, Jonathan said, 
"Behold, the arrows are on this side of thee,” 
David would have nothing to fear, but might 
boldly show himself, and return to the palace. 
But if the archer told the attendant that the 



The Fugitive and Exile, 49 

arrows were beyond him, then his friend must 
hasten away to a safer distance from the king’s 
wrath. 

The next day David’s place at Saul’s table 
was vacant. Jonathan, and Abner the gen- 
eral of the armies, were there, and the son of 
Jesse alone absent. The hours of festive en- 
tertainment passed on, and no word of sur- 
prise, even, escaped the lips of the monarch. 
He was silently nursing his hatred for the mo- 
ment of David’s appearance. 

The morning came, and the feast w^as re- 
newed, with the same missing guest. Saul 
began to suspect some plan of escape, and 
angrily inquired, ” Wherefore cometh not the 
son of Jesse to meat neither to-day nor yes- 
terday?” 

Jonathan calmly told him that David had 
gone to Bethlehem to attend the family sacri- 
fice, having asked permission of him, that he 
might visit the dear old homestead once more. 
The tyrant’s anger burst forth with volcanic 
fury. He abused his son, then cursed David 5 
commanding the former to bring his friend 
there and let him be slain on the spot. Jon- 
athan’s plea for the fugitive was similar to 
4 



50 The Court and Cam-p of David. 

that which Pilate interposed in behalf of " Da- 
vid’s greater Son ” when arraigned before the 
Koman governor : ” What hath he done ? ” 
The effect was the same in both cases ; the 
appeal on the ground of innocence only in- 
flamed the more the persecuting spirit. Saul 
hurled the javelin in his hand, intended for 
David, at Jonathan’s form. The grieved and 
indignant prince arose, and leaving the royal 
presence, was seen no more that day at the 
feast. A night of prayerful anxiety must have 
followed the hours of sorrowful fasting, and 
he hailed the light which was to shine upon 
the field wherein was David’s hiding-place. 

Eepairing to the spot, he drew his bow, 
and away sped the arrow beyond, the youth 
running to bring the barbed messenger of 
death, now made the herald-token of life. 
The archer shouted, ”Is not the arrow be- 
yond thee? Make speed, haste, stay not.” 
Sending the faithful servant homeward, and 
seeing no sign of human observation, he went 
to his idolized friend. 

Then followed a scene unsurpassed in ten- 
derness and self-forgetful devotion in the an- 
nals of human affection. David must become 



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Jonathan and David. Page 51 







The Fugitive and Exile, 51 

an exile from all he loved in nature and nation- 
al blessings ; Jonathan must bid him farewell, 
possibly never to see his face again, while the 
frown of an angry father would fling its shad- 
ow, instead, continually upon his path. David 
reverently bowed three times before the heir- 
apparent to the throne, and then the two fell 
upon each other’s neck, in the embrace of 
unutterable love and grief. They wept until 
David’s gush of feeling exceeded in overpow- 
ering intensity that of his friend. Stricken, 
noble, manly hearts ! There was no aflfecta- 
tion, no complimenting, no deception. It was 
love’s purest devotion, with no witnesses but 
God, the bending heavens above, and quiet 
nature around them. No last accents of Da- 
vid’s adieu are recorded ; doubtless he turned 
away with voiceless sorrow, whose falling 
tears were more eloquent than speech could 
have been. 

Jonathan’s tremulous words of farewell, 
falling upon the solitude as David went from 
his side, were, "Go in peace, forasmuch as 
we have sworn, both of us, saying. The Lord 
be between me and thee, and between my 



52 The Court and Ca^nf of David, 

seed and thy seed, forever.” We can, in fancy, 
see him watching the receding form of David 
until it disappeared from his tearful vision. 
Turning away, he hastens to Gibeah, while his 
friend flees to Nob, a city eight or ten miles 
distant, belonging to the tribe of Benjamin. 
The tabernacle, it seems, had been taken there 
from Shiloh, and there was also Ahimelech, 
the high-priest, wdio, David justly thought, 
might afibrd protection. 

The strange appearance of the visitor, not 
only unattended, but undoubtedly with an un- 
usual expression of countenance created by 
the heart-breaking experiences through which 
he had just passed, startled the high-priest, 
and he anxiously inquired why he came thus 
to him. David’s fears of discovery in turn 
being awakened, his troubled heart was tempt- 
ed to deceive Ahimelech — an act distrustful 
towards God, and cowardly ’in himself. Still, 
the views of the age were loose in regard to 
this resort to falsehood for self-protection ; 
and we know that in national conflicts the 
wisest and best commanders never hesitate to 
mislead and betray the enemy. While, there- 



The Fugitive and Exile, 53 

fore, there is no excuse for falsehood, and 
God requires truthfulness, there are times 
when the exact line of right is not easily 
discerned, and the conscience readily made to 
approve what the divine judgment condemns. 
David told the priest that he was sent by the 
king on secret business, requiring him to leave 
his retinue behind, awaiting his orders. He 
asked for five loaves of bread for them. 
There was only the show-bread, which, after 
lying on the golden table a week, was given 
to the priests. The ceremonial purity which 
David claimed for himself and attendants', and 
the extraordinary emergency, removed the 
scruples of the priest, and the bread was 
delivered to the hungry man. 

Christ, in his rebuke of the Pharisees, who 
found fault with him and his disciples for 
plucking corn to eat on the Sabbath, referred 
to this scene as a like compliance with the 
spirit, if not the letter, of the divine law. 

David had scarcely time to congratulate 
himself upon his prospect of safety before he 
saw at the tabernacle Doeg, the chief of Saul's 
herdsmen. This principal keeper of the 



54 The Court and Camf of David. 

kiug’s cattle and flocks was an Edomite, 
professing faith in the God of the Hebrews, 
and paying vows in the place of his worship. 
The sight of this hypocrite decided David to 
lose no time in getting out of Nob. But he 
determined to go armed, not knowing but that 
the Edomite himself would fall upon him by 
the way. He asked Ahimelech for a sword, 
and was told there was none excepting Go- 
liath’s, kept as a relic. David replied, ” There 
is none like that ; give it to me.” The very 
triumph it suggested nerved his arm for 
further combat, if compelled to defend his 
life. With the priest’s message from the 
Lord, the son of Jesse hastened to Gath, in 
the country of the Philistines, of which Achish 
was king. It is strange that he should go 
there ; but, it may be, he was directed of 
the Lord to do so ; if not, he was in des- 
perate circumstances, and resolved to trust 
the generosity of national foes rather than 
stay within Saul’s dominions. Here again he 
was at once in trouble, being reported to the 
king as the slayer of their champion years 
before, and a dangerous dweller in Gath. 



The Fugitive and Exile. 55 

David now resorted to a new stratagem to 
escape the expected displeasure of Achish. 
He feigned madness, and strolled like an idiot 
about the town, until the king regarded him as 
a harmless lunatic. The stranger improved the 
opportunity to flee again, seeking a solitary 
cave near Adullam, a city of Judah, not far 
from Jerusalem. 

How wonderful the contrasts in this brief 
story of flight and exile I In the mutual love 
and interviews of David and Jonathan there 
were touching and sublime displays of noblest 
gifts and character. The preciousness of true 
friendship on earth, and, above all other ties, 
of Christian afiection, uniting to the Almighty 
Father and Savior, is vividly seen. The 
weakness of the highest in rank and moral 
excellence is equally apparent. David stoops 
to deception in his fears at Nob, and feigns 
grovelling insanity among the pagans he once 
defied in the person of Goliath of Gath. 

In all this experience he was learning wis- 
dom — his frailty and dependence on God, 
which later appeared, as we shall find in his 
poetry, in some of his finest strains of psal- 


56 The Court and Camf of David, 

raody. How weak are we in the conflicts with 
evil passions and desires without the grace 
of God ! No one can secure the eternal crown 
of glory in his own strength, nor yet without 
an efibrt as earnest and constant as if he alone 
could win and wear it. 



The Chieftain and his Achievements. 57 


CHAPTER lY. 

THE CHIEFTAIN AND HIS ACHIEVEMENTS. 

AVID was now in a ” stronghold,” or 
cavern, which could be defended by 
a small band against a much supe- 
rior force, and not far from his 
native hills. His seclusion was soon known 
to the family of Jesse. They must have 
cherished the assurance, Avhich the anoint- 
ing of the young shepherd by Samuel gave 
them, of his kingly destiny ; and they deter- 
mined to unite their fortunes with his own, in 
the apparently hopeless struggle against the 
persecuting enmity of Saul. 

Not only so, but they must have feared the 
vengeance of the monarch on David’s account, 
with whom they would be safer than in their 
unguarded home at Bethlehem. AYe know 
the abandonment of the ancient homestead, 
the familiar fields and flocks, was a sad one, 





58 The Court and Ca^njt of David, 

when the family caravan marched towards 
the valley of Judah. 

There was, however, a compensating joy, 
when the household met entire in the solitary 
cave, and talked over their history during the 
period of separation. 

David felt then what he afterwards sung, — 
Behold, how good and how pleasant a thing 
it is for brethren to dwell together in unity ! ” 

That cavern-scene, by the very contrast in 
its earthly anxieties and surroundings, re- 
minds us of the beautiful words of the great 
and excellent expounder of the Bible, Albert 
Barnes, upon family reunions in heaven, 
where the wicked cease from troubling, and 
the weary are at rest.” 

” A whole family in heaven ! Who can pic- 
ture or describe the everlasting joy? Nor 
father, nor mother, nor son, nor daughter are 
away. In the world below they were united 
in faith, and love, and peace, and joy. In the 
morning of the resurrection they ascended 
together. Before the throne they bow to- 
gether in united adoration. On the banks of 
the River of Life they walk hand in hand, 
and, as a family, have commenced a career of 



The Chieftain and his Achievements , 59 

glory which shall be everlasting. There is 
hereafter to be no separation in that family. 
No one is to lie down upon a bed of pain ; 
no one to languish in the arms of death. 
Never in heaven is that family to move along 
in the slow procession, clad in the habiliments 
of woe, to consign one of its members to the 
tomb. God grant that, in His infinite mercy, 
every family may be thus united.” 

The family of Jesse were not long alone in 
the stronghold. Others, who were disafiected 
towards Saul, and discontented, sought ad- 
mission to the company, until four hundred 
men, with their wives and children, had gath- 
ered in the cave, — a clan of which David was 
the noble chieftain. 

He ruled the little kingdom well, enforcing 
perfect order and discipline. The whole 
nation of Israel now seemed to be excited 
by the hostility of the king towards the exile 
from his court. Leading men of the Gadites 
from beyond Jordan, famous for their prowess, 
offered David their services. From the tribes 
of Benjamin and Judah, also, accessions were 
made to the enemies of Saul. David could 
hardly believe the sight, and expressed his 



6o The Court and Camf of David, 

fears of treachery ; but Amasai, the principal 
captain of the fresh recruits, turned prophet, 
by a sudden influence from above, and assur- 
ing him that they were his servants, pro- 
nounced upon him the blessing and peace of 
God. 

A fine illustration of the bravery of his 
captains soon occurred. He longed to taste 
of the water he drank from earliest childhood 
in Bethlehem. This desire he had not con- 
cealed ; and three of his brave commanders 
determined to reach the cherished well, al- 
though the troops of the Philistines sur- 
rounded and held the town. Leaving the 
stronghold, they safely passed the lines of the 
enemy, went to the gate of Bethlehem, drew 
a supply from the cool depths of the living 
fountain, and returned to the cave. 

The heroic deed was attended with so much 
danger, that David refused to taste the crystal 
waters of dear old Bethlehem. He poured 
the oflfering of valor on the ground, with an 
appeal to God as the witness of this self- 
denial, which was demanded by the price of 
blood ; for, to obtain the coveted luxury, the 
daring heroes had perilled their lives. The 



The Chieftain and his Achievements , 6i 

act displayed true greatness of character — 
an unselfish regard for his captains, and a just 
appreciation of the value of life compared with 
a momentary gratification. How much more 
should we, in the clearer light of the gospel, 
surrender cheerfully worldly pleasures or hon- 
ors, for the sake of usefulness and duty, 
Christ and heaven ! O, too many called 
Christian people not only peril the eternal 
life of souls, but destroy it, rather than give 
up the wine cup, or some other sensual grati- 
fication, entirely inconsistent with a holy ex- 
ample. 

The stern and dangerous aspect of affairs in 
the cave of Adullam awakened the fears of 
David for the safet}^ of his loved and revered 
parents. He asked the king of Moab to give 
them a refuge in Mizpeh, the capital of the 
nation. The request was promptly granted, 
owing, doubtless, to the tyrant^s hostility to 
the reigning sovereign of Israel. The dutiful 
son appeared in all David’s conduct towards 
his parents ; no instance of neglect or disre- 
spect is recorded. The true-hearted brother 
was no less apparent in keeping the flocks, 
while the rest of Jesse’s sons were in the 



62 The Court and Camj> of David. 

battle-ranks, and then hastening, at the fa- 
ther’s command, to the plains of confiict, 
to carry them food. 

How delightful is such family affection, 
whose expression is the fulfilment of God’s 
benevolent design in creating it — the high- 
est well-being and happiness of home, and 
through it of the world ! No sins are more 
pointedly condemned in the Bible, and have 
proved more fatal to worldly success, than 
those of unfaithfulness in parents to their 
trust, and the disobedience of children. The 
home was the first gift of God to the newly- 
fashioned world ; and he will bless no one 
sheltered by it, who strikes at its very exis- 
tence b}’ either perverting or scorning its 
divinely-appointed authority. 

Scarcely were Jesse and his wife safely in 
Mizpeh before a prophet sought David’s fast- 
ness, and bade him leave it for another soli- 
tude. He immediately led his men to the 
forest of Hareth. The providential reason for 
this change was probably the exposed con- 
dition of a town near that wilderness, which 
the presence of his forces would protect. 
Saul heard of the movement, and, from the 



The Chieftain and his Achievements , 63 

heights of Gibfeah, hoped to descend like a 
vulture upon his prey, on David. 

To insure success, he called for a display 
of loyalty to him, complaining of indifference, 
if not treachery, among his subjects. Doeg, 
the Edomite, heard the bitter words, and 
stepped forth the willing servant of Saul in 
his revengeful plotting. To inflame the 
king’s hate, he told the monarch of the scene 
at Nob, where David was helped in his flight 
by Ahimelech, the high-priest, omitting to 
mention the declaration of the fugitive, that 
he was there on the hinges business. This 
was enough to kindle the consuming fire 
of vengeance. Sending for Ahimelech, he 
charged upon him the crime of treachery, 
which the man of God denied, vindicating 
both himself and David from the charge. 
Saul’s evil passions were only stimulated by 
the just and gentle appeal. A bad temper is 
always made worse by truth and justice, be- 
cause the consciousness of wrong is increased 
by the contrast, and the malign spirit ex- 
asperated. 

One of those terrible tragedies, which have 
a bloody and awful preeminence in human 



64 The Court and Camf of David. 

history, followed — the cesistle^ and sanguina- 
ry work of a despotic will in its wrathful mood. 
Saul shouted for an executioner of his demo- 
niac decree ; but there was a pause of amaze- 
ment, which was soon broken by the appear- 
ance of Doeg, at Saul’s command, on the 
arena of martyrdom, glad to shed the inno- 
cent blood. Eighty-five priests of the Lord, 
whom the tyrant declared to be in sympathy 
with David, sank under the sword of the 
Edomite. Their bleeding bodies at the feet 
of Saul only sharpened his appetite for blood. 
He despatched his murderers to destroy the 
inhabitants of Nob, the city of the priests, 
with the order not to spare the children or 
the aged. All fell before the glittering and 
dripping blades wielded by the assassins. 
What a solemn and dangerous trust is power ! 
and how few have failed to abuse it ! It is 
coveted by nearly all men, and yet none will 
be required in the final judgment to reckon 
more strictly with the Judge than tho&e who 
possessed it, whether acquired by office or 
wealth, or genius and culture. 

Abiathar, a son of Ahimelech, escaped the 
massacre, and fled to the wilderness of Hareth, 



The Chieftain and his Achievements , 65 

casting himself upon the mercy of David, 
who not only received him cordially, pledg- 
ing his protection, but mourned deeply over 
the fearful sacrifice he had undesignedly occa- 
sioned. He had now the priestly oracles of 
God with him. 

A military adventure not long after fol- 
lowed. Keilah, a town of Judah, was be- 
sieged by the Philistines, and David’s heroic 
nature was stirred. He resolved, if God 
favored the design, to rescue the city. Abi- 
athar sought the heavenly guidance, and told 
David to go against the enemy with his six 
hundred men, and conquer. His brave hand 
hesitated lest the attack should prove a rash 
and disastrous one. Keassured by the proph- 
et’s message, they followed their intrepid 
leader to a glorious victory, and Keilah was 
saved. 

The victors naturally supposed the gallant 
raid would soften the heart of the monarch 
thus aided by the chief whose life he had 
longed to take. But the effect was exactly 
the opposite, so fiendish had his God-forsa- 
ken soul become. David therefore hastened 
5 



66 The Court and Camf of David. 

from Keilah, while his sovereign plotted 
anew his death. 

A bright and memorable oasis now cheered 
the desert-life of Jesse’s son: it was a visit 
from Jonathan, who had learned his place of 
refuge. The meeting was full of love’s joy and 
encouragement. Jonathan again expressed 
his confidence in the divine appointment of 
David to the throne of Israel, content himself 
to "be next unto him.” The friends separated 
after a repetition of their covenant ; David 
to find treachery lurking near him, in contrast 
with the unequalled fidelity of the king’s heir. 

The Ziphites, into whose wild country David 
went from Keilah, lying between Hebron and 
the Dead Sea, sent word by messengers to 
Saul ill Gibeah, that they knew where the 
object of his enmity was, and would guide 
the king to his hiding-place. With a blessing 
pronounced upon the traitors, the king com- 
menced once more the hunt for the harper and 
hero. Saul and his men pursued the flying 
fugitive along the slope on one side of the 
mountains of the wilderness of Maon, in the 
southern part of the land of Judah, while 
David and his company moved rapidly along 



• » I 





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The Chieftain and his Achievements , 67 

the opposite declivity. The chase was at its 
height, when news came to the Hebrew mon- 
arch, that the Philistines were invading his 
realm, the tidings arresting him in his guilty 
pursuit. He turned backward to face a 
greater enemy for the moment, while David 
retired to the fastnesses of En-gedi. This 
name means the fountain of the goat^ because 
no other animal could live there. The place 
was ‘also called Hazazon-Tamar, which signi- 
fies the city of jpalm trees, on account of the 
abundance of this forest-glory of Palestine. 

Saul defeated the Philistines, and returned 
to the search after David at the head of three 
thousand men. The chieftain, with only six 
hundred followers, had retreated to a rocky 
seclusion, awaiting in a cave the leadings of 
providence. 

It happened that Saul, on his way up the 
mountain, lay down to rest at the mouth of 
this very cavern. During his slumber David 
and his men saw him, the latter urging the 
king’s death. It did indeed seem to be a 
providential interposition for that very object. 
O, how forcibly the scene teaches us to be 
careful what interjpretation we give to the 



68 The Court and Cajn^ of David. 

ways of God with us ! He sometimes tries 
us, when a superficial view might see only a 
special favor. 

David listened to the voice of conscience, 
which said, "Touch not the Lord’s anointed 
to harm him.” He obeyed with lofty decision 
in the face of his impatient men. There is no 
sublimer conquest than that of unholy pas- 
sion. Therefore God says, "He that ruleth 
his own spirit is greater than he who tarketh 
a city.” 

When the morning came over the moun- 
tains, and chased the shadows from the rocky 
defiles, Saul arose, and gazing around upon the 
solitude, wondered whether that dawning day 
would light his steps to David’s ambush. 
Starting upon the search, he suddenly heard 
a familiar voice calling, " My lord the Idng ! ” 
The startled monarch turned towards the 
sound, and lo ! there stood David in the 
cave’s mouth, who immediately added, — 

"Wherefore hearest thou men’s words, say- 
ing, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt? Be- 
hold, this day thine eyes have seen how that 
the Lord had delivered thee to-day into my 
hand in the cave ; and some bade me kill 



The Chieftain and his Achievements, 69 

thee ; but mine eye spared thee ; and I said, 
I will not put forth my hand against my lord ; 
for he is the Lord’s anointed. Moreover, my 
father, see, yea, see the skirt of thy robe in 
my hand ; for in that I cut off the skirt of thy 
robe, and killed thee not, know thou and see 
that there is neither evil nor transgression in 
my hand, and I have not sinned against thee ; 
yet thou huntest my soul to take it. The 
Lord judge between me and thee, and the 
Lord avenge me of thee ; but my hand shall 
not be upon thee. As saith the proverb of 
the ancients, 'Wickedness proceedeth from 
the wicked ’ ” — if I had been so guilty as to 
conspire with others against thee, I should 
surely have been depraved enough to kill thee 
when I had thee in my power — " but my hand 
shall not be upon thee. After whom is the 
king of Israel come out? after whom dost 
thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea” — 
so insignificant a person, that he is unable to 
do thee any harm. " The Lord therefore be 
judge, and judge between me and thee, and 
see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out 
of thy hand.” 

Saul’s spirit was subdued for the time by 



70 The Court and Canf of David, 

the appeal which the undeserved escape made 
to his heart and conscience, and the manly, 
noble address of David. He wept aloud, 
declaring truly that David was "more right- 
eous” than he, and his deep conviction that the 
sceptre would pass to his hand. The softened 
persecutor further besought David to give his 
oath that he would favorably regard his family 
in the future years of regal power. 

The king went to his palace, and David 
repaired to a stronghold again. And now 
the shadow of death passed over the land of 
Israel, felt in all its borders. The aged, 
venerable, beloved, and saintly Samuel "fell 
asleep.” He had been a mighty and benign 
power in the Hebrew nation. Like all good 
men, his hallowed influence increased with his 
years, and the words, " Samuel is dead,” in 
their transit across Palestine, stirred with 
sincere sorrow every heart, and gathered a 
great multitude to his funeral at Kamah. The 
grief of the king and people favored the 
movements of David. He improved the 
truce, and marched into the plains of Paran, 
ill the desert of Arabia Petrsea. A painful, 
and in its issue a romantic, episode in David’s 



The Chieftain and his Achievements. 71 

career occurred. He sent to a rich man who 
lived at Maon, named Nabal — which means 
foolish — for supplies. The wealthy land- 
holder verified the significance of his name 
by curtly refusing the request of the messen- 
gers, inquiring, "Who is David, and who is 
this son of Jesse?” The young men of 
Nabal’s household told his wife, at the same 
time alluding to the protection David’s band 
had afforded to them by the very presence of 
so strong a force in the neighborhood. She 
was a woman of heart, and soul, and sense, 
and immediately took the matter in her own 
hands. She ordered the asses to be laden 
with an abundance of food, and went forth to 
meet David’s approaching company on the 
march to avenge the insult her husband had 
ofiered him. The interview when the two 
caravans met was worthy of both. Abi- 
gail pleaded for mercy, condemniug Nabal’s 
" churlishness,” and complimenting in modest, 
earnest speech the future king of Israel. 

Her beauty, entreaty, and generous gifts 
overcame the chief’s indignation, and pro- 
nouncing a blessing upon the queenly wife of 
the "churl,” he accepted the offerings, and 


72 The Court and Camf of David, 

thanking her for the timely interposition 
which saved her household, went back to his 
encampment. 

Keturning to her home, Abigail found her 
husband in the midst of feasting and revelry, 
and informed him of the great occasion of her 
absence. The intoxicated man, stunned with 
the startling intelligence, Avas seized wdth a 
strange malady, and in ten days expired — a 
single illustration of what has not unfrequent- 
ly occurred in the annals of a rebellious race, 
the judgments of God following closely upon 
daring acts of wickedness. We knew of a 
judge, who, when arrested in his career of 
dissipation by the Holy Spirit, resolved to be 
a Christian, and then stifled his convictions 
and returned to his sins. He lived a year, 
scofiing at all holy things. While "raffling,” 
after a carousal, at the midnight hour, with 
his gay companions, over a horse he had 
named after the Savior of the world, he 
was seized with a fatal disease. When told 
he must die, he sent for the faithful minister 
who talked with him the year before, and said 
it was too late to be saved. He then called to 
his bedside the comrades who were with him 



The Chieytain and his A-chtevements , 73 

in his last festive scene. Looking at them, 
with the death-dew upon his brow, he said, 
am going to hell ; I am as sure of it as of my 
own identity : and now take care of yourselves 
while you can.” These were his last words. 
How full of tender admonition are the 
words, "Kemember now thy Creator in the 
days of thy youth, while the evil days come 
not.” 

David, according to the custom of the age 
in matrimonial affairs, soon proposed to mar- 
ry Nabal’s widow, and she became his wife. 
It was neither unlawful nor uncommon to 
have more than one wife in those early ages, 
although clearly contrary to the original de- 
sign of the sacred relation, and condemned by 
the gospel of Christ. 

There was for months no renewal of hostili- 
ties by Saul, and David wandered about the 
wilderness, at length returning to the soli- 
tudes of the Ziphites, hoping, undoubtedly, 
that they would let him alone, since the king 
had ceased to persecute. But they knew the 
character of the monarch too well to believe 
him sincere in his repentance, and again sent 
him word that the exiled prince was within 



74 The Court and Cam^ of David, 

their reach. The intelligence aroused the 
sleeping demon of passion in his breast, and 
he summoned armed men do attend him once 
more in the pursuit of David. 

It was evening, and on the hill of Hachilah 
the fading twilight was resting, reflected 
from the white tents of Israel’s king and his 
attendants. In the distance, unobserved, 
stood the son of Jesse, with a few of his 
faithful friends, looking upon the encamp- 
ment. He had been informed of the approach 
of his enemy, and providentially discovered 
him in this evening resting-place peacefully 
slumbering with his general-in-chief by his 
side. He called for volunteers to go with 
him into the very camp of the foe. Abishai 
promptly oflfered to risk his life with his leader. 
AVhat a scene was that for a painter ! The 
king is asleep, and the shadows of the solitary 
hills deepening around and over him and his 
reposing company ! David proposes to get 
among the tents, and learn exactly what force 
is there. The two steal along carefully, 
watching the eflfect of each footfall disturb- 
ing the deep silence, until they stand at the 
very pillow of the unsuspecting persecutor. 



The Chieftain and his Achievements, 75 

Abishai, poising his spear, begs permission 
to smite, saying that he only wished to give 
one stroke with his weapon. The faithful 
hero glanced at his chief, and then at the barb 
glittering in the starlight, waiting for the 
word of doom. Instead of this, a whisper 
falls on his ear: ^'Destroy him not, for who 
can stretch forth his hand against the Lord’s 
anointed and be guiltless?” The magia^ani- 
mous exile added his conviction that God 
would bring the wicked sovereign to his 
merited death without their unauthorized 
blow \ telling Abishai to take the king’s spear 
and "cruse of water,” by the bolster, as tro- 
phies, and hasten with him to their own 
stronghold. 

The brave and faithful man stepped forward 
to the head of the slumbering king, seized 
his weapon and canteen, and handed them to 
David. The contents of the cruse spoke well 
for the royal example of temperance, as no 
allusion is made to a flask of wine ; or per- 
haps this silence was a compliment to David, 
wdio took only the symbols of defeat to his 
enemy, and purity of motive in himself; he 
seemed to declare by the scene his ultimate 



76 The Court and Cam^ of David. 

victory, and his resort alone to God’s clear 
fountains of strength and refreshment. 

God had sent on Saul and his band a " deep 
sleep,” and no sign of waking appeared while 
the chieftain, with his nephew, hastened to the 
top of a hill not far distant, and shouted to 
the sleepers, addressing himself to the king’s 
followers, at whose head was Abner. The 
latter started from slumber, and haughtily 
inquired who it was that cried after the king. 
There never was a finer expression of bitter 
irony than David’s reply : ” Art not thou a 
valiant man ? and who is like to thee in Israel ? 
wherefore then hast thou not kept thy lord 
the king? for there came one of the people 
in to destroy the king thy lord. This thing 
is not good that thou hast done. As the Lord 
liveth, ye are worthy to die, because ye have 
not kept your master, the Lord’s anointed. 
And now see where the king’s spear is, and 
the cruse of water that was at his bolster.” 

The startled monarch knew the voice of the 
harper of former years in his palace, and an- 
swered back, "Is this thy voice, my son 
David?” The magnanunous exile confirmed 
his suspicions, and made a touching plea of 



The Chieftain and his Achievements, 77 

innocence, charging the unjust persecution 
upon evil counsellors, and ofiering his life a 
sacrifice to his sovereign, who was like one 
pursuing "a flea,” or "hunting a partridge 
upon the mountains.” Saul was subdued 
again, and, confessing his sin, said truly, " I 
have played the fool, and erred exceedingly.” 
His superior in all things but the crown, 
which was yet to be worn by the prince, he 
requested him to send for the spear, making 
no allusion to the cruse of water ; doubtless 
because the former was the sign of the unpro- 
voked hostility of the king, and, by its return, 
of loyalty in the heart he would pierce. The 
guilty ruler, conquered thus by the goodness 
that spared his life, begged the fugitive to 
return to the palace. But David knew his 
foe too well, who, like Pharaoh, relented 
when God’s providence softened his spirit, 
and then returned to his sins. There is 
nothing more awful in human life than this 
abandonment by God of a sinner to that dom- 
ineering power of evil, which, whatever the 
interludes of remorseful sorrow, leaves no 
ground for true repentance. An aged man 
said, with tears, to a faithful preacher, after 



78 The Court and Camf of David. 

an address to the young, ” That is right, Dr. 
C. Preach to the youth; it is too late for 
me. I shall be lost. I can feel no more the 
tender desire to be a Christian I used to have. 
I have grieved the Holy Spirit away forever.” 

The forsaken king’s conscience was not 
dead, but spoke for the right in a blessing 
pronounced, like that of Baalam upon Israel 
he was sent to curse, upon the man whose 
blood was eagerly sought. 

How fearful to a lost soul will be con- 
science and memory — its companions for- 
ever ! 

Although there was a truce in the monarch’s 
pursuit of David, the weary, desponding heir 
to Israel’s throne seemed to doubt the reality 
of the anointing by the Lord’s prophet, and 
all the signal tokens of his destiny, and 
declared he should ” perish one day at the 
hand of Saul.” In his alarm he determined 
to flee his country, and once more claim for 
himself, his family, and his company of ad- 
venturers, the protection of Achish, the Phi- 
listine king, at Gath. Somehow the pagan 
ruler and David had a singular regard for 
each other ; for the Hebrew’s confidence was 



The Chieftain and his Achievements. 79 

not misplaced. There may have been similar 
qualities of native character, creating mutual 
respect ; or political negotiations, which, in 
spite of national- differences, civil and reli- 
gious, made Achish friendly to the wandering 
chief. At length, finding that his foreign 
guest desired to have his colony by itself, he 
generously offered him Ziklag for his resi- 
dence. There was a considerate kindness in 
selecting a town which belonged to a tribe 
of Israel then in subjection to Achish : so that 
David, while living in his own land, had the 
protection of a powerful sovereign feared by 
Saul. Ziklag was first assigned to Judah, 
then to Simeon, and finally became the pos- 
session of the kings of Judah again. 

The military prowess of David and his men 
now began to appear. They made a raid into 
the country on the southern border of Canaan, 
and swept the wild tribes before them, leaving 
a desert behind them. When the victorious 
chief returned, he went with the spoils to 
Achish, to anticipate any rumors that might go 
before him. When the king made inquiries 
concerning his incursion, he misrepresented 
the whole affair, to make the best possible im- 



8o The Court and Camf of David, 

pressioii upon the mind of his protector — an- 
other instance of his human frailty, stooping to 
falsehood to advance his cause. He repre- 
sented his expedition to have been within the 
lands of Judah, — which Achish the more read- 
ily believed because brave Bcnjamites, of 
whose tribe Saul was, had joined David, — 
looking very much like a conspiracy against 
the dominions of the Hebrew king. 

The reason of this invasion is not given, 
nor is it possible to know how far it was 
justifiable in the sight of God thus to exter- 
minate the heathen tribes. Not Ions: after 
this raid near Mount Tabor, one of the mem- 
orable summits of Scripture history, lying on 
the north-east border of the great plain of 
Esdraelon, the hosts of the Philistines gath- 
ered against Saul. Achish requested David 
to join his army, proposing to make him 
captain of his life-guard. 

Saul’s fears were excited, and the shadow 
of coming disaster seemed to fall upon his 
gloomy spirit. 

There was living at Endor, a village of 
Galilee, about four miles from Tabor, where 
Deborah and Barak defeated Sisefh, a famous 



The Chieftain and his Achievements. 8i 

sorceress. Her name is not given, but she 
is called ''the witch of Endor.” To her, in- 
stead of to a prophet, the desperate king re- 
sorted for counsel. Assuming the apparel of 
a common citizen, he went, with a few attend- 
ants, under cover of night, to Endor, — and he, 
the very man who " had put away those that 
had familiar spirits and the wizards out of the 
land.” 

The witch knew that the monarch had thus 
decreed her own death, and when the strange 
visitor asked her to " bring up whom he should 
name,” she replied with alarm, "Wherefore 
layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me 
to die?” 

He gave his oath that no punishment should 
follow, and then desired to see Samuel. To 
the astonishment of the woman, before she 
had time to go through her incantations, the 
departed seer stood before her. This appari- 
tion, with the unearthly interview which fol- 
lowed between the three, like the marvels 
wrought by Pharaoh’s magicians in the pres- 
ence of Moses, cannot be satisfactorily ex- 
plained. God has left the remarkable scene 
ill myster3^ 

6 



82 The Court and Camf of David » 

And here it may be fitting and well to no- 
tice the different religious teachers and won- 
der-working leaders in the religious services 
and worship of antiquity. 

There were priests ; prophets or seers ; ma- 
gicians, including in the name soothsa3^ers, 
wizards, &g. ; and apostles. 

True prophets were inspired with a clear 
foresight of such future events as God wished 
to announce. Magicians were the wise pagans 
of the East, who, with soothsayers, wizards 
and witches, apparently wrought miracles and 
foretold coming events. How far they were 
permitted to go into the region of the super- 
natural, to try character and visit judicial 
blindness upon the guilty rejecters of the 
" Father of lights,” we have no hint in the 
Bible. Amid all the l^dng delusions of magic, 
there were anciently, as now, in clairvoy- 
ance and spiritualism, unexplained and star- 
tling phenomena. 

But revelation, reason, and the practical 
results, ” error, sin, and shame,” all prove that 
these mysteries are not of God, — an^^ further 
than they come from the complicated mech- 
anism of humanity, perverted by design- 



The Chieftain and his Achievements. 83 

ing men, or are the permitted displays of 
Satanic power. 

The very result of this resort to one who 
professed to stand in the place of the Bible and 
prayer, as the guide of mankind, revealed 
God’s condemnation of all such attempts to 
supersede his providence and grace. 

The advertisements of such pretenders to 
supernatural wisdom, even now enter the 
homes of the people in the columns of the 
periodical press, and their signs meet our gaze 
along the public streets. 

The " pure in heart,” the devout and hum- 
ble souls, are never found in communion with 
these deceivers ; nor can any one be guiltless 
who encourages them in their lying impos- 
tures. 

The ghost of Samuel charged Saul’s crimes 
upon him, and prophesied his speedy over- 
throw. Israel’s gloomy monarch returned to 
his camp, while the Philistines marched from 
Shuneni to Aphek, near Jezreel, not far from 
the army of the Hebrews. 

There was now a sudden commotion in the 
pagan host ; the princes or leaders under the 
king discovered the Israelitish ranks, and gath- 



84 The Court and Camf of David. 

ered around Achisb, asking, excitedly and in- 
dignantly, what the strange spectacle meant. 
They talked of treachery and defeat, and 
urged the sending away of the champion who 
slew Goliath, and also his band. Achish re- 
luctantly complied with the wishes of his 
chiefs, and assured David, as he had done 
them, of his unshaken confidence in his in- 
tegrity. 

David led his men towards Ziklag, and was 
joined on the way back by seven of the most 
heroic men of the tribe of Manasseh. When 
he drew nigh to his city, lo ! there was only 
a heap of ruins. The Amalekites, his ene- 
mies, had taken advantage of his absence 
and sacked the city, carrying away his wives 
among the captives, and "much spoil,” — sig- 
nal revenge for his incursions into their ter- 
ritory. 

When David, with his regiment of six hun- 
dred brave men, reached the ruined town, 
there was a remarkable scene. The noble 
leader and his troops looked upon the sacked 
and smouldering city a moment with the mute 
surprise of a sudden and terrible discovery ; 
then "lifted up their voices and wept aloud.” 



The Chieftain and his Achievements, 85 

Those strong hearts were deeply moved ; not 
so much by the loss of property as by the 
captivity of their wives and children. Their 
loved ones were gone, and the world had no 
longer a home for them. 

When the storm of grief had subsided, 
the bereaved followers of David turned their 
thoughts to the canse of their calamity. Who 
but their leader had excited the enmity of the 
Amalekites by invading their country? Re- 
volt, and even death by stoning, stared the 
chief in the face. In his extremity he sought 
the Lord’s guidance through Abiathar the 
priest. To the anxious questioning, " Shall 
I pursue” the spoilers and "overtake them?” 
came the answer, " Pursue ; for thou shalt 
overtake them ; and without fail recover all.” 

With this divine encouragement, the word 
of command to march in the track of the 
flying foe, was given ‘by the glad leader, and 
the eager warriors moved forward in the chase 
for life’s dearest treasures. Such was the haste, 
that, at the brook Besor, which empties near 
Gaza into the Mediterranean Sea, two hun- 
dred of the six hundred men were compelled 



86 The Court and Camf of David, 

by exhaustion to stop. David with the rest 
hurried forward, and soon met an Amalekite’s 
Egyptian servant, nearly famished. The poor 
straggler had been abandoned by his master 
on account of sickness. He told the story 
of the raid and pillage, and, demanding the 
promise of David not to deliver him again to 
his master, consented to act as guide to the 
camp of the invaders. What a spectacle soon 
greeted the vision ! There was the host of 
the Amalekites, holding a general festival over 
their spoils. They were eating, and drinking, 
and dancing in the fading light of an Eastern 
day. Not long did the tired Hebrews look 
upon the festive pagans. David ordered an 
immediate attack. The men rushed, like ti- 
gers upon their prey, to the slaughter, and 
the ground drank blood until the next even- 
ing, and then it ceased because there were no 
more victims for spear'or sword, — only four 
hundred young men mounted on camels es- 
caping the harvest of death. 

The victors recovered their wives and chil- 
dren, and took an immense amount of spoil. 
Upon their arrival at the stream where the 



The Chieftain and his Achieve^nents* 87 

two hundred were left, objection was made to 
sharing with them the booty. This gave an 
occasion for the exhibition of David’s true 
greatness of character. He decided that it 
was just to make an equal distribution to 
those weary men who remained and guarded 
the baggage ; and afterwards it became a stat- 
ute in Israel, that all honorably connected 
with a military campaign should receive equal- 
ly in the division of the spoils. 

This incident was followed by another no 
less complimentary to the chieftain. Upon 
arriving at Ziklag, he sent from the abun- 
dance of good things, presents to the people 
in various places who had befriended him. 
Some of these haunts had not been noticed in 
the previous account of his wanderings. 

The sacred annals throughout, mention 
simply what it is necessary to record, in the 
sight of infinite wisdom. We often wish we 
could know more than is written, especially 
when we read the life of Jesus ; but we are 
taught by this limit to our curiosity, both our 
narrow range of knowledge and the sovereign- 
ty of God, who "works all things after the 
counsels of his own willT 


88 The Court and Cam-p of David. 

About a week had passed since David left 
the army of the Philistines, when he reached 
Ziklas:, and Saul returned from Endor to his 
army. The next morning revealed to the 
king’s sad gaze the hostile ranks in motion. 
In a brief time the shining weapons were 
clashing in deadly combat. The tide of bat- 
tle surged back and forth awhile, then 
turned decidedly in favor of the Philistines. 
The king and his battalions fled, while the 
archers singled out the illustrious fugitive for 
their nmrk. Wounded and desperate, he 
begged his armor-bearer to slay him, and 
spare him the shame of dying by the hand 
of the heathen conquerors. When the re- 
quest was refused, he resorted to suicide, 
falling upon a sword. The fearful tragedy 
was followed by a similar self-destruction by 
the armor-bearer, who resolved not to sur- 
vive the humiliating death of his sovereign. 
The monarch’s sons were also killed, and their 
mangled bodies, with their father’s corpse, 
taken to the temples of idolatry, grateful 
ofie rings to Dagon. 

The inspired narrative gives briefly, and 
very impressively, the secret of the monarch’s 



The Chieftain and his Achieveme 7 its, 89 

end : ” So Saul died for his transgression 
which he committed against the Lord, even 
against the word of the Lord, which he kept 
not, and also for asking counsel of one who 
had a familiar spirit to inquire of it ; and in- 
quired not of the Lord ; therefore he slew 
him, and turned the kingdom unto David the 
son of Jesse.” 

Mysterious, indeed, are God's ways with 
men. He left Saul to verify his declaration 
in regard to Israel’s request for a monarchy : 
”In my wrath I gave them a king.” For 
there was nothing in his reign to make the 
people fall in love with despotic rule ; noth- 
ing to make the crown desirable to another. 
While this general impression was produced 
by Saul’s dark career and its fearful close, 
God by it was preparing a successor who 
should honor him, and perpetuate his church 
and worship among the nations. 



4 



I 


: A' 





% 


.• ■ 



§a);t 

THE KING AND HIS KINGDOM. 

CHAPTER I. 

DAVID ASCENDS THE THRONE. 

O tidiugs of battle from the shadow 
of Mount Tabor had reached David 
for nearly three days. 

With his warriors he was enjoying 
the fruits of victory amid the ruins of Ziklag, 
when suddenly a stranger entered the town, 
with his clothes rent, and earth upon his head. 
The rending of the robe, and throwing dust 
or ashes upon the head, was then, and is still, 
an Oriental mode of expressing great sorrow 
and mourning. 

The unknown traveller was taken at once 
to David, before whom he bowed with deep- 
est reverence. There was in this homage the 

( 91 ) 




92 The Court and Cain^ of David, 

recognition of a powerful prince, whose favor 
the mysterious visitor sought. 

David saw at a glance that he was from the 
plains of conflict, and eagerly inquired how 
the struggle had gone. 

The fugitive reported Saul’s defeat and 
death, making special mention of Jonathan’s 
untimely fate ; doubtless because he w^as 
aware of the tender friendship which had ex- 
isted betw^een him and David. 

The Amalekite went farther than a simple 
statement of the flicts, to win distinction by a 
falsehood respecting his own part in the san- 
guinary strife. With an air of proud impor- 
tance he went on to say, that he found the 
monarch wounded, slew him, and bore away 
the crown from his brow, and the golden 
bracelet IVom his arm. 

The evidences of Saul and Jonathan’s death 
admitted of no doubt, and the magnanimous 
David was overwhelmed with the greatness of 
the calamity. His mourning, in which joined 
his faithful band, was deep as it was sincere. 
AYith the first moment of calm reflection came 
thought of the Amalekite’s crime, according 
to his own declaration ; and charging upon 



David ascends the Throne. 93 

liim the guilt of killing the "Lord’s anointed,” 
David ordered one of his young men to slay 
him. 

How this messenger obtained the royal 
badges is not known ; probably he ran and 
took them when he saw Saul hill in death. 

The time had come for David’s decisive 
action for himself and the imperilled nation, 
in their divinely-appointed relations to each 
other. He inquired of the Lord if he should 
make an open demonstration of his royalty 
by repairing to one of the cities of Judah as 
headquarters. God revealed to him that this 
was the next step to be taken, and Hebron 
the place. This ancient town, eighteen miles 
south of Jerusalem, was originally called 
Kirjath-Arba, i. e., the city of Arba, the fa- 
ther of Anak ; and later, Mamre, from an 
Amorite residing there, who was the friend of 
Abraham. Here the patriarchs were buried. 
It lies near the base of hills with fruitful lands 
about it. It is still a walled city, and the 
capital of the "hill country of Judah.” On 
the rocky summits was an abundance of wild 
honey. 

The chieftain and heir to the throne pro- 



94 The Court and Cam^ of David. 

posed to march for this famous old town. 
Soon the colony was in motion, — the armed 
men, their wives, children, flocks and herds, 
forming no mean caravan, — winding along 
the pathways through the thinly-populated re- 
gion towards Hebron. When he entered the 
streets of the citjs the tribe of Judah wel- 
comed him as their future sovereign, imme- t 
diately and gladly gathering to his corona- 
tion. 

The Philistines offered no resistance to the 
promotion of David, whom they had protected 
in his roving life on purpose to annoy and 
distress Saul. Through the hostility existing 
between the house of the dead monarch and 
the young prince, they expected, in return for 
their kindness to him, to gain rather than lose 
by his extending power. 

David increased very greatly his material 
resources when he married the rich widow of 
Nabal; and now, upon ascending the throne, 
augmented his political influence by taking for 
a bride Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, a 
Geshurite, who ruled the region around the 
head waters of the Jordan. This king’s 
province was one of those not subdued when 



David ascends the Throne. p5 

the Hebrews entered Canaan, lying on their 
northern border. 

The ruler in Hebron was informed of the 
respect shown by the people of Jabesh-gilead 
to the bodies of Saul and Jonathan, by the 
rescue and honorable burial of the royal re- 
mains ; thus expressing a grateful remem* 
t brance of Saul’s deliverance of their town 
from Nabash, the king of the Ammonites, 
when he threatened conquest. These men 
of the tribe of Manasseh displayed a brilliant 
heroism, which made their loyalty the more 
conspicuous. 

Selecting a dark night, the chosen band 
went to Bethshan, where the dead were dese- 
crated to grace the victories of Dagon, and 
taking the bodies from the idol’s temple, re- 
turned with the blood-stained relics of a 
departed dynasty. To preserve them at all, 
they were compelled to burn them. Over 
the ashes they observed a fast seven days. 

David sent a special messenger to Jabesh- 
Gilead to thank the inhabitants for their 
thoughtful and noble attention to the slain, 
promising them a reward, and urging them to 
devote their valor to the new order of things 



96 The Court and Cani^ of David, 

in the realm. The whole transaction is an- 
other glimpse of the superior talents, wisdom, 
and moral qualities of the son of Jesse, shin- 
ing forth among the cruel despotisms of pagan- 
ism, and the comparative ignorance and selfish 
passions prevalent among his own people. 

• We must judge of the character of a people 
or of an individual, as clearly as possible, ac- 
cording to the divine rule of responsibility — 
the degree of the light enjoyed. How small 
the Bible, and that only in manuscript, the 
Hebrews possessed ! They regarded all the 
rest of the world as outlaws — the foes of 
God and his people ; while, necessarily, 
their conceptions must have been compara- 
tively faint, both of immortality and the 
gospel law of love. Justice, more than mer- 
cy, was the sentiment and government of 
the people. The most enlightened in those 
earlj^ ages were in darkness, contrasted with 
our light, intellectual and spiritual. The 
accountability and final judgment must be 
according to the means of grace and of use- 
fulness we have. 

The youngest pupil in a Sabbath school, 
who is not a Christian, is older in impeni- 



David ascends the Throne, 97 

tence than the ancient Hebrew of ripest years. 

It is a very impressive thought, and gives ' 
to early life a solemn interest never dreamed 
of when David kept his flocks or wore a 
crown. 

The new king did not find the throne a 
refuge from trouble. 

A single son of Saul, named Ishbosheth, 
was living. 

And now began the dark record of con- 
spiracy and rebellion in Israel. For David sat 
on no traitor’s throne. God chose and ap- 
pointed him to be the successor of Saul, and 
he had not given occasion for persecution or 
reproach. 

Abner, who had been commander-in-chief 
of Saul’s army, was a splendid soldier, and 
the most distinguished man remaining of the 
former court. But he was an unprincipled, 
ambitious man. For he stood by his revenge- 
ful monarch to the last, and then acted with- 
out the least regard to God's revealed will or 
an enlightened conscience. 

Abner hated David because of Saul his 
master’s malice and fate, his own defeats be- 
fore the superior generalship of the exiled 
7 



The Court and Camf of David. 


chieftain, and to crown these, the cutting re- 
buke which rang on his ear when David and 
Abishai stood on the hill-top with the captured 
spear and cruse of water. 

This valiant and wicked man determined to 
employ the weak representative of departed 
royalty to advance his own selfish aims. He 
knew that Jonathan’s memory was cherished 
by the people ; and even the first monarch’s 
heroism was not forgotten, especially by the 
army. The daring chief went boldly forward 
with his plans. At Mahanaim he secured and 
directed the coronation of Ishbosheth, and all 
the tribes but Judah proclaimed him king. 

During two years Saul’s son quietly enjoyed 
his honors in his secluded capital, while Ab- 
ner was vigilantly preparing for aggressive 
war. At length he advanced with his troops 
towards the border of Judah. David was com- 
pelled to fight, by his victorious arms main- 
tainins: his ri^^ht to rei«:n. 

O O O 

Five years more brought no recorded 
changes to the king at Hebron. Six sons 
were born there during that period. 

Meanwhile Abner took for his wife Eizpah, 
formerly a member of Saul’s household — an 


David ascends the Throne* pp 

act then understood to indicate the desire and 
design to occupy the throne itself of her sov- 
ereign lord. 

This bold move alarmed and excited Ish- 
bosheth, who complained of it to Abner. 
The proud commander passionately resented 
the rebuke, and swore revenge, — becoming 
from that hour the worst enemy of the hither- 
to favorite prince. The king was dumb before 
him to whom he owed his crown. 

Such is the unreliability of human friend- 
ship unsanctified by mutual love to God ; in 
a moment it passes away before the hot breath 
of passion, or decays in selfish neglect. It is 
a precious truth sung by Fawcett, — 

“ Blest be the tie tliat binds 

Our hearts in Christian love ; 

The fellowship of kindred minds 
Is like to that above.” 

Abner immediately communicated with Da- 
vid, and gave him to understand that he was 
the power behind Ishbosheth’s throne, greater 
than it, and was ready to negotiate for a 
transfer of the rival power to him. David 
made the first condition of a treaty, the 


lOO The Court and Camf of David. 

restoration of Michal, his first wife, the 
daughter of Saul, who Avas unjustly given by 
her father to another; sending at the same 
time messengers directly to Ishbosheth, to 
aid Abner in the matter. The irresolute and 
timid prince complied Avith the united de- 
mand, and took from her Aveeping husband 
Michal, AAdio Avas AA^elcomed to his palace by 
David. 

The transaction seems strange indeed ; but, 
as we have before noticed, our vieAvs of do- 
mestic life, and of all duties, are so much 
clearer, it is diflacult to reconcile things al- 
loAved among the best people, then, with piety 
and principle. 

Abner, Avith twenty men, escorted Michal 
to Hebron, A\diere a splendid feast, in honor 
of the alliance, and also of respect, Avas made 
for them by the king. 

But a neAv storm Avas gathering around the 
throne of David. Joab, his leading com- 
mander, returning from some expedition, 
heard of the visit of Abner, and his jealousy 
was kindled into a flame. To have Abner, 
the traitor, received into royal favor by his 
side, a dreaded rival, was more than he could 



) 

I 

David ascends the Throne, loi 

bear. He went to David, declaring angrily 
that a spy was seeking the monarch’s ruin. 

For some reason — either by the artful man- 
agement of Joab, or the king’s command, to 
protect him if possible — messengers hurried 
after Abner, and brought him again to He- 
bron. At the city gate Joab and his brother, 
evidently according to arrangement, met the 
returning chieftain. Joab told him he had 
private business with him, and they went 
aside, when he slew him with his sword. 

Thus early began to appear the sanguinary 
conflict of passions, under the shadow of a 
throne, — the conspiracies and assassinations 
'which make the annals of monarchy fearfully 
dark, and show us what the earth would be 
without the restraints of God’s providence 
and grace continually checking and thwarting 
the madness of human depravity. 

'When the spreading news of Abner’s assas- 
sination reached the ears of David, and stirred 
the monarch’s soul with indignation and grief, 
in impassioned language he declared his inno- 
cence, and uttered a fearful imprecation upon 
the house of Joab — even the judgments of 
God, as the token and penalty of his crime. 



102 The Court and Camf of David, 

His censure of Joab reminds us of Haman’s 
humiliation, many years afterwards. The 
commander of David’s forces was compelled to 
obey the general order for mourning ; to rend 
his garments and put on sackcloth. 

The funeral was the first solemn pageant 
of the kind under the sceptre of David. Ab- 
ner’s body was borne, with all the honors of 
royal respect, to the sepulchre. Thousands 
gathered to the capital to join in the great pro- 
cession, whose lamentations filled the peaceful 
heavens. The monarch stood before the tomb 
and wept aloud ^ leading the concourse in the 
wail of sorrow. How finely appeared again, 
amid funereal gloom, the magnanimity and 
nobility of David’s nature ! No narrow am- 
bition blinded his appreciation of genius, or 
led him to flatter the mean spirit of revenge 
in a favorite chieftain. 

The brief poetical utterance over the lifeless 
form was a refined and cutting rebuke to 
Joab. Exclaimed the king, — 

“ Died Abner as a fool dieth? 

Thy hands were not bound, 

Nor thy feet put into fetters : 

As a man falleth before wicked men, 

So fellest thou.” 



David ascends the Throne. 103 

That is to say, Abner was not a manacled 
criminal put to death, but the victim of lawless 
violence, whose murder deserved to be pun- 
ished. When urged by the people, who 
brought refreshments to him, to strengthen 
himself, he declined, declaring, with noble 
self-denial, that the sun should go down upon 
his fasting for Abner. He gave a reason for 
sparing the assassin by adding to the brief 
eulogy, ” Know ye not that there is a prince 
and a great man fallen this day in Israel ? ” the 
significant language, ” And I am this day 
weak, though anointed king;” that is, his 
power was too recent and unsettled to make 
it prudent to punish summarily and deserved- 
ly the conspicuous criminal. 

Still it may well be doubted whether David 
acted heroically in this clear case of murder. 
It was timid in a king thus to fear the conse- 
quences of administering justice. But such a 
resort to expediency, as necessary in circum- 
stances of peculiar difiaculty, is of daily 
occurrence everywhere. Sometimes we are 
compelled to defer, or let alone, wdiat we feel 
would ill itself be right, because, at the time, 
to act otherwise would be a rash and fatal 



104 Court and Camj> of David, 

attempt to force our way against irresistible 
opposition. 

On the other hand, we had better die vindi- 
cating truth and justice, than compromise or 
betray either. 

The body of Abner was hardlj^ left quietly 
in death’s repose, and the mourning ended, 
before another and greater tragedy startled 
the king and his subjects. Two brothers, 
who were captains in the army of Abner, for 
some unknown reason, probably to conciliate 
David, determined to slay the trembling Ish- 
bosheth. He was seeking rest at noonday in 
his apartment, when the assassins, pretend- 
ing to be sent for supplies kept in the same 
part of the royal residence, gaining admission 
to his room, fell upon the bereaved sovereign, 
and slew him. Cutting off his head, they fled 
to Hebron, and presented the bloody trophy 
to David, reminding him that the pale brow 
on which a crown had rested was that of 
Saul’s son, and his rival. 

They met no smile of approval — they saw 
no signal of reward. 

Alluding, in words of indignation and grief, 
to the case of the Amalekite who despoiled 


David ascends the Throne, 105 

Saul ill death, he pronounced at once the sen- 
tence of execution upon the assassins. The 
fatal blows followed, and their hands and feet 
were cut olF and hung over the Pool of He- 
bron, that the people might know the king’s 
deep abhorrence of their deed. The head of 
his rival was honorably buried in Abner’s 
sepulchre. 

We think no prince, of any land or age, 
could have expressed more emphatically his 
high regard for justice, and shown his self- 
forgetful* respect for an enemy deserving con- 
sideration, than did the king of Judah in this 
treatment of both the living and the dead. He 
called Ishbosheth ” righteous,” because ho 
gave no provocation to the regicides who slew 
him, and was indeed the deluded victim of 
Abner’s ambition, however guilty himself in 
yielding to the dazzling prospect of reigning 
in his father’s stead over Israel. 

The only heir to the throne of Saul, whose 
claims were likely to be urged, was Mephibo- 
sheth, Jonathan’s son.- But in the flight of 
terror, with him, when she heard of Ishbo- 
sheth’s death, his nurse fell, made him a 
poor cripple, and consigned him to obscurity. 


io6 The Court and Camf of David. 

God had now, by his providence, removed 
the barriers before the rising power of David, 
without a stain upon the king’s character, in 
the means which he permitted to be used. 
The son of Jesse encouraged no sanguinary 
measures, no secret conspiracies, in his behalf, 
but was, loyal, honorable. God-fearing in his 
kingly career, from the stronghold of the 
wilderness to the throne at Hebron. 

No words of the infinite Ruler of all men 
are more certain of fulfilment than these : 
"Them that honor me I will honor^and they 
that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.” 


The Coronation and the Throne, 107 ’ 

CHAPTER II. 

THE CORONATION AT HEBRON, AND THE 
THRONE IN JERUSALEM. 

HE burial of Ishbosheth turned the 
eyes of all the tribes of Israel to- 
wards the throne of David in He- 
bron. The leading men among 
them began to move in the acknowledgment 
of his right to rule over all Israel. More than 
eight thousand of the descendants of Aaron, 
and Lcvites, were active in the grand move- 
ment. The " rank and file ” of the army began 
the march for the capital of Judah. The rev- 
olution was quiet and sublime. Nearly half 
a million of Saul’s former subjects thronged 
Hebron and its suburbs, until the town and 
its environing hills and valleys were alive 
with the just now hostile tribes. 

Then the elders went to David in behalf of 



io8 The Court and Camf of David. 

the multitude, and assured the king they rec- 
ognized his relations to them in origin, heroic 
life, and divine appointment to the universal 
sovereignt}^ of Israel, civil and military. The 
king knew they were right, for God’s promises 
and dealings, and not personal vanity, pointed 
directly to this unsought honor. 

The mutual pledges of fidelity to the obli- 
gations existing: between the ruler and his 

o o 

people were exchanged, and the hour of cor- 
onation appointed. The occasion was one of 
imposing magnificence. The outlaw of Saul’s 
court appeared before the vast and excited mul- 
titude, many of them strangers from a great 
distance. Army officers and their battalions, 
with spear and helmet, the venerable elders, 
and the priests, — all were there beneath the 
smiling heavens. Encircled b}^ a guard of 
armed men, and arrayed in a purple robe, 
stood the still youthful David. The sacred 
oil, which was always put upon the brow of 
the first sovereign of a new dynasty, was 
poured by the high-priest upon his head. 

Samuers anointing was only prophetic of 
what was tc be ; now, the grand inauguration 



The Coronation and the Throne. 109 

has come ; he is conseeratecl by the nation to 
his office as God’s vicegerent. 

The sceptre, which in Saul’s reign was a 
spear, and later a golden rod, or similar sym- 
bol of power, is placed in his hand ; the writ- 
ten covenant of righteous sovereignty and 
sincere loyalty is given to him; the royal, 
resplendent diadem laid upon his brow ; the 
chain upon his neck, and the bracelets on his 
arms. 

The ceremonies of enthronement are over, 
and the vast procession moves towards the 
city gates, with the acclamation ringing 
above the tumult of enthusiastic applause, 
Long live the Icing T" 

Songs and instrumental music express the 
popular joy. When the sovereign is seated 
on his throne, the multitude of happy subjects 
reverently offer their congratulations to him. 

David closes the splendid pageant with a 
three-days’ festival, for which the adjacent 
tribes generously furnish all the luxuries of 
the land in abundance. 

At length the feast is over, and the host 
begin to disperse — the long lines of the 


no The Court and Cam^ of David, 

returning Hebrews to their homes radiating 
in every direction from Hebron. 

David was scarcely seated on the throne of 
the nation, before his thoughts were directed 
to a more convenient and fitting capital for 
his extended realm. Lying about twenty 
miles north of Hebron was a remarkable 
town called Jebus, or Jebusi, belonging to 
the Jebusites, a remnant of the old Canaan- 
ites. Its name, before Joshua led Israel’s 
host from the wanderings in the wilderness 
to their promised possessions, was Salem. 
Near it Abraham laid Isaac on the altar, and 
also met Melchizedek five hundred years before 
the crowning of David at Hebron. Its posi- 
tion — central in relation to the rest of the 
world, elevated, and very strong in its mu- 
nition of hills — was unequalled. 

The place was one of the most ancient 
known, and regarded with veneration even 
by the Egyptians. On the north rose the 
snow-crowned summits of Lebanon ; south- 
ward lay the burning deserts of Arabia; and 
to the west were the. blue waters of the Med- 
iterranean, — all combining to make a climate 



The Coronation and the Throrie, iii 

of singular changefulness, and variety in tem- 
perature. 

The monarch of Israel determined to be- 
siege and take Jehus from the sovereignty of 
his pagan enemies. The call for men met 
with a prompt response, and a large force was 
soon at his command. Leaving his throne 
and capital, he marched to eJebus, surround- 
ed and took the city. He immediately re- 
moved the capital to the captured town, 
whose heathen name was exchanged for the 
City of David. It was afterwards called Je- 
rusalem and Mount Zion. 

Hiram, who ruled at Tyre, — a rich and 
splendid city on the eastern shore of the Med- 
iterranean Sea, — heard of the new sovereign 
of the Hebrew people, and shrewdly resolved 
to court his favor, and make a treaty with the 
popular prince. We doubt whether a king ever 
more gracefully and winningly sought a peace- 
ful alliance. He sent ambassadors, accompa- 
nied with architects and workmen, who were 
followed by freight trains with cedar trees 
and other materials, for the building of a pal- 
ace in Jerusalem. The respectful and digni- 
fied address corresponded with this exhibition 



1 12 The Court and Camf of David. 

of good will, and Hiram and David, and, 
later, Solomon, were warm and magnanimous 
friends. 

The monarch’s rising greatness awakened 
the fears of the Philistines ; and to check it, 
before it became irresistible, they marshalled 
their forces near Jerusalem, only to retreat 
before David, who had sought God’s counsel in 
his extremity. 

The Hebrew king knew the power of pray- 
er, the simple and mighty refuge of the soul 
in every peril of human life and destiny. It 
never failed when resorted to sincerely and 
humbly. 

Peace was restored to Israel, and its sover- 
eign’s devout heart turned to the execution of 
a cherished design, which recent hostilities 
had delayed. 

The ark of God, Avhich contained the two 
tables of the law given to Moses, beside 
which was laid the golden vase of manna, 
the rod of Aaron, and the books of Moses, — 
itself the symbol of the divine presence, — 
was at Kirjath-jearim, nine miles distant, and 
not far from Nob, where the priests resided. 

David prepared for its removal to the me- 


The Coronation and the Throne. 113 

tropolis, with a display of sacred enthusiasm 
worthy of the great occasion. Nothing could 
better show his loyalty to God, nor more im- 
pressively strengthen his sway, than this 
public and solemn deposit of the ark in 
the capital of his kingdom. 

A day was appointed, and the "chosen men 
of Israel” summoned to join their king in the 
grand procession. The high-priest, with the 
chief priests under him, the princes, the 
rulers, and the leaders of the tribes were 
there. Thirty thousand of Israel’s picked 
men were assembled at Kirjath-jearim on the 
bright, auspicious day. David was aglow 
with the hallowed mission. The moment of 
departure came ; the holy ark was borne from 
its seclusion upon a "new cart,” drawn by 
oxen ; while the long procession attended it 
with music on harps, psalteries, timbrels, cor- 
nets, and cymbals. 

What a magnificent march was that along the 
winding way among the hills of Palestine 
towards Jerusalem I The mute, unconscious, 
patient oxen drew the precious symbol of 
Jehovah’s presence over the quiet paths, above 
which rang the harmonies and acclamations of 
8 



1 14 The Court and Cam^ of David, 

thirty thousand noble men ! The cavalcade 
emerged from a solitary valley into the har- 
vest fields of Nachon. Near his threshing- 
floor, perhaps their attention attracted by its 
grain, the oxen stumbled. The ark seemed 
in danger, and Uzzah, a son of Abinadab, in 
whose house it had been kept, having, with 
his brother, charge of the oxen, put out his 
hand to steady it. 

But even the Kohathrites, who were appoint- 
ed from the Levites to carry the ark after it 
was covered by the priests, were allowed to 
touch only the staves by which they held it. 
In some unrecorded manner ” God smote Uz- 
zah for his error, and there he died by the 
ark of God.” 

David was "displeased,” and then greatly 
alarmed, fearing, after all, to have the ark 
so near him. Like Jonah, when his gourd 
withered, David indulged in passionate and 
rebellious feelings because of the Lord’s 
judgments, which cast a sudden gloom on 
his jubilant ceremonies. 

This unholy spirit, with his alarm, decided 
him at once to let the ark remain there. At 
his command it was taken to the house near 



The Coronation and the Throne, 115 

by of Obed-edom, the Gittite, who welcomed 
this visible token of God’s regard for his 
chosen people. The good man was rewarded 
for his faith and love by the Lord’s special 
blessing upon his household. 

Very instructive is the contrast between 
David’s irritation and timidity, under God’s 
awful rebuke of irreverence, and the Levite’s 
reception of the ark, with the smile of Jeho- 
vah attending his loving care of the precious 
memorial of the just yet merciful Lawgiver. 
Three months passed quickly, but they gave 
David time to mark God’s regard for the ark 
of his covenant, and reflect upon his sinful 
fears, and his rebellion against the ways of 
Providence with him. 

He now resolved to attempt once more the 
removal of the ark, for which he had prepared 
a place in the tabernacle at Jerusalem. 

Again, the chief men of Israel were sum- 
moned to the resting-place of the ark ; and 
from all the land of Israel, the priests, cap- 
tains, and leaders of the tribes were on the 
march for Perez-uzzah, as David called the 
dwelling-place of Obed-edom, because of the 
"breach of Uzzah;” i. e., this son of Abina- 



ii6 The Court and Canf of David, 

dab fell there under the wrathful stroke of the 
Lord. The king confessed that he did not 
rightly interpret and improve God’s provi- 
dence. The arrangements for bringing the 
ark to " Mount Zion ” were more imposing 
than before. 

The king laid aside the robes of royalty, 
and put on the ephod. This garment, resem- 
bling a cloak, falling down on the back and 
front, and clasped at the shoulders, was usu- 
ally worn by the high-priest. The monarch 
took his place among the subjects of the 
Eternal King, to have him honored alone. 

He did not assume a priestly emblem as 
such, but this garment was sometimes worn 
by distinguished persons ; and David pre- 
ferred to appear without a display of earthly 
power, when Jehovah, represented by the 
ark of his covenant, should alone be exalted 
in the thoughts of the people. 

No sooner was the magnificent cavalcade on 
the march, stretching away into the valley 
towards Jerusalem, than a halt was ordered 
by the king. His grateful heart must have a 
public expression of its deep emotions ; and 
sacrifices of oxen and fatlings were soon 





Return of the Ark» Pajje 117. 


r • ^ 


( 4 



I 





bV 




The Coronation and the Throne. 117 

smoking upon altars doubtless reared for the 
occasion, and surrounded by the priests. Af- 
ter the ofle rings were made, the long line was 
again in motion. The music of harps, cor- 
nets, and cymbals rose and floated over the 
vast multitude, while David " danced,” or kept 
time, in his great rejoicing, to the measures 
of song and instrumental harmony. 

Nothing shows a greater ignorance of an- 
cient customs and Bible teaching than to 
quote this exultation, and the declaration, 
"There is a time to dance,” as arguments, or 
an apology, for the irreligion, folly, and ruin 
of soul and body which attend the dancing 
of modern times. Who does not know that 
waltzing is grossly immoral, and the midnight 
ball destructive of morals and health? 

And who would not be shocked, or smile 
with ridicule, at the suggestion of prayer, or 
even devout praise, at a dance^ whether in the 
domestic circle or in the public hall ? 

The joyful movements of the Orientals on 
great occasions had not the faintest resem- 
blance to the dissipation of dancing now. 
But the question may be asked. Are not 
amusements of all kinds, "properly regu- 



ii8 The Court and Camf of David. 

lated,” harmless? No; the wine-cup, the 
card-table, and the dance have become so 
thoroughly and universally perverted, that 
whoever attempts to regulate them not only 
utterly fails, but is claimed and quoted by 
the vender and drinker of ardent spirits, the 
gambler, and the gayest reveller, in their de- 
fence of the several and fatal dissipations. 

Nor is this all : a dying man, who feels un- 
prepared to meet God, will not call to his 
bedside a Christian, with whom he has asso- 
ciated in these pleasures, to intercede with 
God for him, and point him to the self-deny- 
ing, blameless Redeemer. 

The grand and exulting procession suddenly 
came in sight of their capital, and joined in 
the words composed by their royal leader : — 

“ Lift up your heads, O ye gates, 

And be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, 

And the King of Glory shall come in.” 

The melodious shout ceased, and a band of 
singers and players replied, — 

“ Who is this King of Glory? ” 

From another company of musicians came 
back the response, — 



The Coronation and the Throne. 119 

The Lord, strong and mighty; 

The Lord, mighty in battle.” 

Then, again, the full tide of harmony swelled 
upon the air : — 

“ Lift up your heads, O ye gates. 

Even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, 

And the King of Glory shall come in.” 

The joyful interrogation was heard once more, 
” Who is this King of Glory?” The rapturous 
reply rolled over the multitude, — 

“ The Lord of Hosts ; 

He is the King of Glory.” 

The ark passed then through the city gates, 
and was placed in the tabernacle designed to 
protect it until a fitting temple should be 
reared for the worship of God. As soon as 
the sacred symbol was at rest, the blood of 
sacrifices again flowed, and their flames, with 
the smoke of incense and peace-offerings, 
went up before the hallowed enclosure. 

At the close of the devout thanksgiving the 
monarch of Israel pronounced a solemn bene- 
diction. The people were then supplied with 
refreshments in rich abundance. Dividing 



1 20 The Court and Camf of David, 

into companies, according to the tribes and 
the direction thence of their places of abode, 
they diverged towards the various points of 
the compass, along the paths of travel. We 
may not doubt that the king watched them 
with strons: and minsrled emotions. All the 
tribes were represented in this united, peace- 
ful, and delightful celebration of the most 
sacred and hopeful event that had marked his 
reign. Then turning his tearful eye, in the 
fading light, to the tabernacle, he lifted his 
thankful adoration to God, whose pledge of 
his presence and favor was now near his 
throne. But he little thought of the strange 
and humiliating contrast awaiting him. Turn- 
ing his steps towards his palace to repeat the 
blessing upon his household, his reverie was 
rudely broken by the shadow of Michal, his 
wife, upon his path. She had seen from her 
window the uncrowned sovereign of Israel 
wearing the linen ephod, and dancing before 
the ark, and, with her father’s gloomy despot- 
ism as her ideal, her wounded pride must 
pour its scorn in bitter words upon David. 
Scarcely had his eye fallen upon her withering 
expression of countenance before the storm 



The Coronation and the Throne, 121 

burst upon him. How keen and cutting the 
irony of her speech ! " How glorious was the 
the king of Israel to-day, who uncovered him- 
self to-day in the eyes of the handmaids of 
his servants, as one of the vain fellows shame- 
lessly uncovereth himself!” 

She thus compared the monarch to a vain 
and reckless youth who wantonly made a dis- 
play of himself upon a festive occasion. Da- 
vid indignantly repelled the charge, declaring 
the purity of his purpose, and the apprecia- 
tion of it by the people, and the desire to 
have more of such dishonor. It was heroism 
like that of the words which the lips of a dying 
young minister have made immortal — " Stand 
up for Jesus.” God rebuked Michal by de- 
nying her (what Jewish wives most desired, 
because of the honor in which ofispring were 
held), children to the day of her death. 

David immediately proceeded to restore the 
order of sacred rites, interrupted by the se- 
clusion of the ark and the slaughter of priests 
at Nob. 

The throne was established, and the king’s 
residence worthy of its sovereign. Peace 
gave David leisure for attention to the 


122 The Court and Camj> of David, 

religious interests of his people. He longed 
to see a splendid temple to the honor of J e- 
hovah upon Mount Zion. He consulted Na- 
than, a noble prophet, who approved the 
design, and told him to go forward in its 
execution. 

But, upon consulting the Lord directly in 
the matter, Nathan told his sovereign that he 
would not be allowed to build the sacred edi- 
fice, because he had been a "man of blood,” — 
that is, a w^arrior, — and would have enough 
to do to prepare the way for the peaceful 
reign of a son who would fulfil all the pious 
wishes of his heart. 

David was not only satisfied with God’s 
decision, but, in his overflowing gratitude 
for the gracious promises to his family, went 
to the tabernacle, and poured forth there his 
ascriptions of praise, exclaiming in his humil- 
ity, " Who am I, O Lord God, and what is 
my house, that thou hast brought me hith- 
erto?” 

Kecognizing the divine sovereignty and 
glory in all these dealings, he extolled the 
greatness of the Majesty on high, renewing 
his covenant, and appealing to the Lord’s 



The Coronation and the Throne, 123 

faithfulness and mercy as the ground of the 
expectation to receive the promised bless- 
ings. 

How beautiful the example of grateful res- 
ignation ! 

He gave up his cherished purpose to build 
a temple without a murmur, and rested, with 
unfeigned self-renuuciation, upon the pledges 
of a covenant-keeping God. Such a spirit 
of submission is rare, even under the light of 
gospel day — the frame of mind which alone 
gives perfect peace, in life and in death. 

The swift years of tranquillity went by, and 
Israel’s army again met and overcame the 
Philistines. When the land was quiet, Da- 
vid’s thoughts, for some reason, were directed 
tenderly to the former friendship of Jonathan. 
It may have been simply the sudden sugges- 
tion of a meditative retrospect of early years, 
that possibly his true friend might be repre- 
sented by a descendant unknown to him. 
For it is recorded that he one day inquired 
of his attendants, — 

" Is there yet any that is left of the house of 
Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jona- 
than’s sake?” 



124 Court and Cam^ of David, 

Ziba, a former servant of Saul, was found, 
and brought before the king to answer, and 
said that there was yet a son of Jonathan 
living, who was lame in his feet. It was 
Mephibosheth. 

"Where is he?” inquired David. 

"Behold, he is in the house of Machir, the 
son of Ammiel,” replied Ziba, " in Lo-debar ; ” 
a country probably some distance beyond the 
Jordan. 

David immediately despatched messengers 
for Mephibosheth, who was brought to Jeru- 
salem. When he came into the presence of 
the king, he prostrated himself on the ground 
with the most respectful obeisance. On being 
called by name, he arose and said, "Behold 
thy servant.” 

"Fear not,” was the benignant address of 
David, " for I will surely show thee kindness 
for Jonathan th}^ father’s sake, and will restore 
thee all the land of Saul thy father ; and thou 
shalt eat bread at my table continually.” 

Mephibosheth replied, bowing himself be- 
fore the king, " What is thy servant, that thou 
shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I 
am?” He regarded himself as so insignifi- 



The Coronation and the Throne. 125 

cant and inefficient a being, that he could 
hardly believe it possible for this great and 
unexpected favor to be conferred upon him. 

David then sent for Ziba, and informed him 
of what was to be done for Mephibosheth. 
"Thou, therefore,” he added, "and thy sons, 
and thy servants, shall till the land for him, 
and thou shalt bring in the fruits, that thy 
master’s son may have food to eat ; but Me- 
phibosheth, thy master’s son, shall eat bread 
alway at my table.” Ziba promised a faithful 
compliance with this command, which he was 
able to do, for he had fifteen sons and twenty 
servants ; " and all that dwelt in the house of 
Ziba were servants unto Mephibosheth.” 

The lame man became the monarch’s hon- 
ored guest. 

Whatever may have been the frailties and 
sins of David’s eventful life, in all his rela- 
tions to his people, and in his fidelity to his 
obligations both to God and man, when we 
consider the age in which he lived and 
reigned, he was incomparably superior to any 
contemporary sovereign or subject of whom 
we have any detailed narrative. He disdained 
that meanest of all human arrogance, the 



126 The Court and Camf of David. 

scorn or neglect of unfortunate and poor rel- 
atives or friends. 

There can be no display of pride more hate- 
ful to God, than contempt of misfortune and 
poverty without reference to personal merit 
or claims upon benevolent regard. 

The military campaigns of David, during 
which occurred the darkest, saddest error of 
his life, the murder of Uriah, to obtain his 
beautiful wife, and whose history will include 
the great conspiracy of Absalom, that broke 
up the king’s court for a time, at Jerusalem, 
followed by an inferior revolt, will be re- 
corded in the annals of the Camp of David. 

The period referred to was a stormy one in 
the reign of the Hebrew monarch. But the 
effect of the Lord’s varied discipline upon 
his character and usefulness was very great, 
as a glance at his poetry will reveal, when we 
come to his career as the ” sweet singer of 
Israel.” How truthful the words of another 
pensive and pious bard ! — 

“ God moves in a mysterious way 
His wonders to perform ; 

He plants his footsteps on the sea, 

And rides upon the storm.” 



Closing Scenes of David's Reign. 127 

CHAPTER III. 

THE CLOSING SCENES OF DAVID’s REIGN. 

HE reign of David had reached its 
last decade of years, when a new 
form of national calamity came upon 
the land of Israel ; a famine, which 
filled three of them with suffering through- 
out the realm. 

We cannot tell why David so long neg- 
lected to inquire of God the reason of this 
chastisement, but Jehovah restrained him by 
his providence in some way; doubtless be- 
cause he would have the judgment take effect 
before it was removed. When the afllicted 
monarch did go to God, he was assured that 
it was for ” Saul and for his bloody house, be- 
cause he slew the Gibeonites,” that the blight 
of fruitlessness had fallen on Palestine. This 
is a dark, mysterious hint at one of Saul’s 
cruel acts of despotic power. The crafty man- 




128 The Court and Cam^ of David. 

agement of the Gibeonites to make a league 
with Joshua upon his entrance into Palestine 
and successful invasion of it, is recorded in 
the ninth chapter of the book bearing that 
great leader’s name. These pagan dwellers 
in the country w^ere promised security of life 
and property, but upon the discovery of their 
fraud were condemned to be ” hewers of wood 
and drawers of water” for the congregation 
and the temple-service. 

Apparently they had abandoned idolatry, 
and were living quietly among the Hebrews, 
when to make a display of regard for his own 
people, and so increase their loyalty, Saul 
made havoc among the remnant of the Gib- 
eonites in wanton violation of the most sacred 
pledges kept for centuries. 

There is another mystery in the Lord’s de- 
ferring the expression of his anger until Saul 
was dead and his successor had held the scep- 
tre for more than a score of years. 

But he knew, and always knows, when the 
blow ought to fall upon a nation or an in- 
dividual to secure the highest result of his 
discipline, and never errs in his paternal chas- 
tisements. 


Closing Scenes of David’s Reign, 129 

David then consulted the Gibeonites in re- 
gard to the avenging of the wrong Saul had 
inflicted upon them. There was no vindictive 
desire to punish the guilty; but God plainly 
required a retributive display of his justice, 
and the king must do the will of the Infi- 
nite One. No rational being can complain of 
simple justice. However severe its penalties 
for wrong-doing, they must be right; and 
mercy is not only unmerited, but may become 
cruel compassion in its effect on society. 

The injured Canaanites replied to David, 
that they wanted none of Saul’s money, nor 
harm to any Israelite among the common peo- 
ple. But when he urged them to tell him 
what they deemed a proper method of vin- 
dicating their rights, and making them, by 
thus securing the divine favor, a blessing to 
the land, they demanded the execution of 
seven of Saul’s sons, because they, with their 
father, were the great criminals. 

The place proposed for the tragedy was 
Gibeah, the former residence of Saul, to make 
the scene more impressive by this coincidence. 
David complied with the startling demand, 
9 



130 The Court and Camf of David, 

and ordered the princes to be delivered to 
the Gibeonites. 

It was barley harvest, corresponding to early 
April in our climate, when this day for dis- 
pensing public justice dawned. The throng 
of injured Canaanites, and from adjacent tribes 
of Israel, gathered to Gibeah. The scaffold 
threw its awful shadow over the barren fields 
blasted by famine around it. The weeping 
mothers were doubtless there ; for, when the 
spectators had dispersed, and those seven 
bodies swung gloomily high in the air, al- 
most beneath them there stood upon a rock a 
tent, whose aspect was in perfect harmony 
with the dismal work of death. It was of 
sackcloth, and covered the form of Rizpah, 
the mother of two of the slain men. 

She was evidently a devoted mother, whose 
heart was broken; for there she staid, week 
after week, to keep away by day the birds of 
the air, and at night the devouring beasts of 
the forest. 

At length the rainy season came on, and it 
was told David how the poor mother was 
watching the decaying forms of the slain, re- 
gardless of the storm. His spirit was sympa- 



Closing Scenes of David's Reign. 13 1 

thiziiig, and not resentful, towards the himily 
of his bitterest foe for many years, and he im- 
mediately ordered the bodies, with those of 
Saul and his sons who had died before, to be 
all removed to the burial-place of Kish, the 
departed monarch’s father, and there honora- 
bly interred. 

What touching glimpses have we here of 
maternal aftection — earth’s strongest, most 
sacred love, and of David’s nobility of na- 
ture ! 

"The wages of sin is death,” and they are 
received at some time and somewhere if pen- 
itence and pardon do not cancel the record of 
guilt. 

God’s displeasure passed away with that 
funeral service at the sepulchre of Kish, and 
plenty again smiled upon the slopes and plains 
of Palestine. 

There are, it cannot be denied, difficulties 
in this story of the Gibeonites. And there 
are Christian critics who believe the slaughter 
of Saul’s sons was instigated by the priests 
because he slew their predecessors at Nob, 
while David himself wished to be rid of the 
household of the persecuting king. But the 



132 The Court and Camf of David, 

Bible gives no hint of the kind, and we are 
permitted to let David have the benefit of this 
silence, in the light of his unquestioned vir- 
tues. 

After beating back the Philistine invaders 
again, in the royal pride of military success, 
he determined to take a census of his available 
men of war in the kingdom. 

To this act of self-glorying, it is said, God 
” moved David,” that he might inflict needed 
discijDline upon the nation. Jehovah allowed 
the tempter to succeed in his dark design, 
withdrawing his restraining grace from the 
king. 

There are, as we have seen before, im- 
penetrable mysteries in the Bible ; in other 
words, partial revelations of truth, leaving 
” parts of his ways ” in the shadow of God’s 
throne, or rather, we may say, in the unap- 
proachable light of his " secret pavilion.,” 
Man may speculate, but he cannot solve these 
problems of Jehovah’s providence and grace. 
To humble us and develop fliith he keeps his 
own counsels, and often also a perplexing 
silence respecting his purpose. We are thus 
limited in our researches on every hand ; and 



Closing Scenes of David’s Reign, 133 

Job’s question is forced upon the soul, "Canst 
thou by searching find out God.” 

The king’s order was placed in the hands 
of Joab, his commander-in-chief. The vain 
and needless mandate surprised and offended 
the chieftain. With the reverence due to his 
sovereign he expressed his condemnation of 
the enterprise, along with the hope that the 
king’s subjects might be increased a hundred 
fold. The captains joined with their general 
in protesting against the enumeration. Op- 
position was fruitless, and the work was com- 
menced. For nearly ten months, with a 
heavy heart and sternly sad countenance, 
Joab, with his subordinate officers, went 
through the tribes of Israel, taking the names, 
looking into thousands of faces on which 
would soon come the palor of sudden and 
awful death. 

The general hastened the census, passing 
by the tribes of Levi and Benjamin, because 
"the king’s word was abominable to Joab,” — 
the strongest possible indication of the chief- 
tain’s deep disgust with the service he was 
compelled to perform for his erring sovereign. 

The number of the valiant men who could 

,1 



134 Court and Camf of David. 

bear the sword in battle was eight hundred 
thousand in Israel, and five hundred thousand 
in Judah. In the book of Samuel the sum 
is' larger — the difierence in the statements 
is owing either to the omission in one case of 
the two tribes, or errors in transcribing the 
sacred manuscript ; but whatever the cause, 
the discrepancy is of no practical importance to 
any reader of the Bible. God seems to have 
designed these unimportant disagreements 
in the Scripture on purpose to give exercise 
to faith, whose triumphs are the soul’s present 
joys, and to reveal the heart’s depravity, or 
natural aversion to God and holiness. How 
eagerly unrenewed men seize upon these ap- 
parently conflicting statements, rejecting with 
scorn its glorious way of salvation, which a 
child can understand ! 

Scarcely had the monarch received the ceu- • 
sus from Joab before his heart "smote him,” 
and he cried unto God for mercy. In re- 
sponse the Lord sent " Gad, David’s seer,” to 
ofier the choice of three fearful forms of judg- 
ment, for it was too late to hear the prayer for 
jDity unmixed with retribution. 

It is evident that the nation had departed 



Closing Scenes of Davidls Reign. 135 

from God, and, no less than their king, needed 
terrible reproof. 

The prophet’s message was in these thrill- 
ing words : "Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee 
three things; choose thee one of them, that 
I may do it unto thee. Shall seven years of 
famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt 
thou flee three months before thine enemy 
while they pursue thee ? or that there be three 
days’ pestilence in thy land ? ” 

There was no escape from a choice, which 
Gad, in Jehovah’s name, demanded. The 
awestruck, agitated monarch had never be- 
fore been in such a relation to his eternal 
King ; and after a moment’s suspense he 
replied, with wonted loyalty and confidence 
towards God, "I am in a great strait. Let 
us now fall into the hand of the Lord, for his 
mercies are great ; let me not fall into the 
hand of man.” 

His life had been spent among earthly 
enemies, and he preferred to have God de- 
cide between the direct judgments of his 
perfect administration. 

How brightly the real character of the sin- 
ning sovereign shines through the gloom and 



136 . The Court and Camf of David. 

terror of the emergency — the ruling purpose 
of obedience to the Lord, and loving trust in 
him ! 

We* are in Jehovah’s hand, and there is 
safety and peace alone in choosing to be there, 
with a submissive, affectionate spirit. 

Infinite wisdom made short work of the 
chastisement, sending a consuming pestilence 
upon the people, which spread like fire on a 
prairie, throughout the land of Israel. The 
aged and the young, the armed man and 
the maiden, shrieked with agony, gasped and 
died ; until seventy thousand, as the third 
day’s sun went down, lay ghastly in death, or 
were already buried. 

Surrounded by the venerable elders, the 
king sat in sackcloth, they unitedly beseech- 
ing an offended God to spare his people. 
Suddenly their weeping eyes are upturned 
to the unanswcring heavens ; and lo, a new 
signal of vengeance I 

In mid air, with flaming sword in hand, and 
waved over Jerusalem, stands the destroying 
angel. No description of that majestic and 
awful presence is attempted. It is enough 
to know that at the sight David and the elders 



Closing Scenes of David’s Reign, 137 

were overwhelmed with alarm, and laid their 
faces in the dust. 

Then, with the humility and self-forgetful 
regard for Israel of the great lawgiver and 
leader, Moses, when God threatened the 
entire destruction of the Hebrews, the king 
exclaimed, from the ground wet with his tears, 
”Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wicked- 
ly; but these sheep, what have they done? 
Let thy hand, I pray thee, be against me, and 
against my father’s house, but not on thy peo- 
ple, that they should be plagued:” 

The work of discipline was accomplished ; 
and Gad was sent by the angel to David to 
bid him come to the spot over which he stood, 
the threshing-floor of Oman, the Jebusite, 
and build an altar for sacrifice. 

Upon the approach of the mourning com- 
pany Oman emerged from a hiding-place, to 
which, with his four sons who were threshing 
wheat, he fled when they saw the angel. He 
bowed to the earth before his ruler. David 
immediately apprised the terrified man of his 
object in visiting him, and proposed to pur- 
chase the threshing-floor, whereon to build 
an altar ; the instruments of threshing for 



138 The Court and Camf of David, 

wood, and the oxen for the victims of sac- 
rifice. 

This floor was an elevated part of the field, 
levelled and made hard; and on this the 
bundles of grain were laid, and beaten with 
wooden clubs, or trodden by the hoofs of 
cattle. 

Oman refused to sell, but gave the whole 
to the king freely and gladly. Not only did 
the judgment of God appeal to his hopes and 
fears, but he >vas a true-hearted subject of his 
heavenly and his earthly king. 

David disdained to ofier God what cost him 
nothing, and insisted on paying six hundred 
and fifty shekels of gold, or nearly four thou- 
sand dollars of our money. 

Then followed a scene like that on Mount 
Carmel when Elijah met the prophets of Baal. 
Upon the bleeding sacrifice fell the fire from 
heaven, consuming it in a moment, to the joy- 
ful surprise of the anxious beholders. They 
looked upward again, and the glittering blade 
was in its scabbard, and the serenity of recon- 
ciliation upon the brow of the avenger. 

David felt that Jehovah had consecrated the 
spot, and the offerings continued to send up 



Closing Scenes of David's Deign. 139 

their accepted flame to God there, ever after. 
It was chosen by the king to be the site of 
the grand temple to be built by his successor. 

Thus the Judge of all the earth, the author 
of life, the sovereign of nations, with but 
little explanation of his procedure, displayed 
his justice, humbled his people, and desig- 
nated the very place for his glorious temple. 

David now addressed himself zealously to 
the preparations for building the temple, ”the 
pattern” of which, he said, "the Lord made 
him to understand in writing by his hand upon 
him.” The land was astir with the mighty 
undertaking. Foreign residents were set to 
work in the quarries, and the people sent in 
iron and brass, while from Tyre and Zidon 
came cargoes of cedar. 

The youthful Solomon was apprised of 
God’s promises and purposes by his father, 
charged most impressively to be faithful to 
his trust and to God, and encouraged with 
words of holy cheer. 

The inventory of materials, which he gave 
to Solomon, was a wonderful index of his 
resources : he had a hundred thousand talents 
of gold, or more than two billions of dollars ; 



140 The Court and of David. 

a million of talents of silver, which was nearly 
as much more, with brass and iron "without 
weight,” and "timber and stone in abun- 
dance.” 

In the midst of these grateful scenes to his 
heart, David was confronted b}^ a fresh domes- 
tic trial. Adonijah, his fourth son, who re- 
sembled his brother Absidom in personal 
beauty and ambition, put on the airs of roy- 
alty, and openly talked of wearing the crown. 
He won over Joab, Abiathar the priest, and 
other leading men, who withdrew with him to 
the rock Zoheleth, by the fountain Enrogel, 
lying south of Jerusalem. The true-hearted 
Nathan asked Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, 
if she knew of the movement, of Avhich her 
husband was certainly ignorant, suggesting a 
plan that would save her own and Solomon’s 
life. He proposed that she go to the aged 
king, remind him of his promise to her son, 
and tell him of Adonijah’s attempt to defeat 
the solemn pledge; then, as if by accident, 
he would follow after her, and confirm her 
words by a repetition of the appeal. 

The wise and timely interposition was suc- 
cessful. David renewed his covenant, and the 



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David appoints Solomon. 


Page 141, 






Closing Scenes of David's Reign. 141 

full heart of Bathslieba exclaimed, "Let my 
lord king David live forever ! ” 

David sent for Zadok, a priest, Nathan, and 
Benaiah, captain of the guards, and issued his 
orders: "Take with you the servants of your 
lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride upon 
mine own mule, and bring him down to 
Gihon,” — this was a fountain on the west of 
Jerusalem, — "and let Zadok the priest and 
Nathan the prophet anoint him there king 
over Israel ; and blow ye with the trumpet, 
and say, God save king Solomon ! Then ye 
shall come up after him, that he may come 
and sit upon my throne ; for he shall be king 
in my stead ; and I have appointed him to be 
ruler over Israel, and over Judah.” 

Quickly the sacred oil from the tabernacle 
was poured by Zadok on Solomon’s fair young 
brow, a trumpet-blast announced the royal 
consecration, and the shout of the people 
went up — "God save king Solomon!” 

Adonijah and his adherents heard the glad 
tumult, and seeing Jonathan, son of Abiathar, 
coming from the scene, hailed him to learn 
the meaning of it all. 

This messenger gave a true account of the 



142 The Court and Camf of David. 

coronation, and added, that congratulations 
had passed between David and his servants 
over the joyful event. 

The terror-smitten prince with his friends 
fled for their lives. He entered into the 
sanctuary, and grasping the horns of the 
altar, trusted to the hallowed refuge for 
safety. His life was spared magnanimously 
by Solomon on conditions of good behavior 
ever after. 

To confirm his son in power David called 
together a grand assemblage of the people, 
similar to that which brought the ark of the 
covenant to his metropolis. The orchestra 
alone, which furnished the instrumental music, 
numbered four thousand performers. The 
venerable monarch addressed the concourse, 
alluding to his relation to the building of the 
temple, and declaring Solomon’s divine and 
human right to the throne, closing with an 
eloquent, tender, and subduing charge to the 
people and to Solomon. What nobler, more 
stirring words ever fell from any mortal lips 
than these.? — 

”And thou, Solomon my son, know thou 
the God of thy father, and serve him with a 



Closing Scenes of David's Reign, 143 

perfect heart, and with a willing mind ; for the 
Lord searcheth all* hearts, and understandeth 
all the imaginations of the thoughts : if thou 
seek him, he will be found of thee ; but if thou 
forsake him, he will cast thee off forever. 
Take heed now; for the Lord hath chosen 
thee to build a house for the sanctuary ; be 
strong and do it.” 

These words are as true to-day as then, and 
should be engraven on the tablets of every 
youthful memory, and govern the life : ” If 
thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but 
if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for- 
ever.” The world’s entire annals illustrate 
this great truth of God’s dealings with fallen 
man, finding its most vivid revelations on the 
dying bed. David again made an address to 
the vast congregation of his subjects, with 
some additional suggestions touching Solo- 
mon’s need of sympathy and aid, and men- 
tioning the treasures of gold of Ophir and 
refined silver, which, from his own posses- 
sions, he had dedicated to the building of the 
temple. 

The tide of feeling, that rose to the highest 



144 The Court and Camf of David, 

sacred enthusiasm, is beautifully described in 
the living oracles : — 

''Then the people rejoiced, for that they 
offered willingly, because with perfect heart 
they offered willingly to the Lord ; and David 
the king also rejoiced with great joy.” He 
exclaimed, with adoring ardor, "Blessed be 
thou. Lord God of Israel our father, forever 
and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, 
and the power, and the glory, and the victory, 
and the majesty ; for all that is in the heaven 
and in the earth is thine ; thine is the king- 
dom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head 
above all. Both riches and honor come of 
thee, and thou reignest over all ; and in thy 
hand is power and might ; and in thy hand it 
is to make great, and to give strength unto 
all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, 
and praise thy glorious name. But who am 
I, and what is my people, that we should be 
able to offer so willingly after this sort? for 
all things come of theoj and of thine own 
have we given thee. For we are strangers 
before thee, and sojourners, as were all our 
fathers : our days on the earth are as a shad- 


Closing Scenes of David’s Reign. 145 

ow, and there is none abiding. O Lord our 
God, all this store that we have prepared to 
build thee a house for thy holy name cometh 
of thy hand, and is all thine own. I know 
also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and 
hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in 
the uprightness of my heart I have willingly 
offered all these things ; and now have I seen 
with joy thy people, wdiich are present here, 
to offer willingly unto thee. O Lord God of 
Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, 
keep this forever in the imagination of the 
thoughts of the heart of thy people, and pre- 
pare their heart unto thee ; and give unto 
Solomon my son a perfect heart, to keep thy 
commandments, thy testimonies, and thy stat- 
utes, and to do all these things, and to build 
the palace, for the which I have made pro- 
vision.” 

David then called upon the whole congre- 
gation to bless the Lord their God. They did 
so with united voice, bowing their heads in 
deepest reverence before God, and loyalty to 
their king. 

The next day there were sacrifices and 
burnt-offerings, followed by a feast the people 


146 The Court and Cam^ of David, 

celebrated with great gladness. Solomon was 
anointed king a second time, and Zadok to be 
priest. A universal sentiment of allegiance 
to their new sovereign prevailed. "All Israel 
obeyed him ; and all the princes, and the 
mighty men, and all the sons likewise of 
king David, submitted themselves unto Sol- 
omon the king. And the Lord magnified 
Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Is- 
rael, and bestowed upon him such royal 
majesty as had not been on any king before 
him in Israel.” 

The life of David was drawing to a close. 
He felt it, and gave his last affecting charge 
to Solomon. "I go the way of all the earth : 
be thou strong, therefore, and show thyself a 
man ; and keep the charge of the Lord thy 
God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, 
and his commandments, and his judgments, 
and his testimonies, as it is written in the law 
of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that 
thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest 
thyself : that the Lord may continue his word 
which he spake concerning me, saying, If thy 
children take heed to their way, to walk be- 
fore me in truth with all their heart, and with 



Closing Scenes of David’s Reign, 147 

all their soul, there shall not fail thee, said he, 
a man on the throne of Israel.” 

He reminded Solomon of the guilt of Joab 
in putting to death Abner and Amasa in cold 
blood : ” Do therefore according to thy wis- 
dom, and let not his hoar head go down to the 
grave in peace.” 

This would be nothing more than inflicting 
the penalty of the law upon a murderer. Da- 
vid, in his official capacity, might have done 
this before, but feared to do it, on account of 
Joab, and the state of public affairs. The 
duty of bringing the criminal to justice he 
now devolved upon Solomon, leaving it to 
his discretion to select the time and the mode. 

"But sho-w kindness,” he continued, "unto 
the sons of Barzillai, the Gileadite, and let 
them be of those that eat at thy table ; for so 
they came to me when I fled because of Ab- 
salom thy brother.” 

"And, behold, thou hast with thee Shimei, 
the son of Gera, a Benjamite of Bahurim, 
which cursed me with a grievous curse in the 
day when I went to Mahanaim ; but he came 
down to meet me at Jordan, and I sware to 
him by the Lord, saying, I will not put thee 



148 The Court and Camf of David. 

to death with the sword. Now therefore hold 
him not guiltless; for thou art a wdse man, 
and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto 
him ; but his hoar head bring thou down to 
the grave with blood.” 

Some commentators think that David in- 
tended to " give an explicit direction to Solo- 
mon to jDut Shimei to death. They say, it is 
probable that Shimei took a part in the rebel- 
lion of Adonijah, as well as in that of Ab- 
salom. David therefore warned Solomon to 
consider him as still cherishing his old rancor- 
ous and vindictive spirit, and to be on his 
guard against a traitor who w’ould doubtless 
soon commit some other act to render him 
obnoxious to the punishment of death, in 
inflicting which Solomon’s wisdom would 
direct him how to act discreetly and justly. 
They say too, that although David swore to 
Shimei that he should not die, it evidently 
implied that David would not himself cause 
him to be put to death, and especially at the 
time when he acted in so traitorous and insult- 
ing a manner. He gave Shimei, as it were, 
a kind of reprieve, and now Solomon would 
be at liberty, as the head of the nation, to do 



Closing Scenes of David's Reign, 149 

what he thought was right in the matter, tak- 
ing into account also the present character of 
Shimci, together with his future conduct.” 

Others suppose that the passage, in which 
David gives the charge to Solomon respecting 
Shimei, should be rendered — ''Now, there- 
fore, hold him not guiltless, — for thou art a 
wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to 
do unto him, — but bring not down his hoar 
head to the grave with blood.” 

In these acts, therefore, the character of 
David is free from reproach. He did nothing 
more than was required of him, in his official 
capacity, to promote the great ends of justice, 
and provide for the welfare* of the nation ; 
while, as an individual, he scrupulously ful- 
filled his promises, and showed that he was 
influenced by no personal feelings of vindic- 
tive resentment. 

IIow simple the narrative of the last hours 
of David. "He died in a good old age, full 
of days, riches, and honor;” and he "slept 
with his fathers, and was buried in the city 
of David.” 

Thus calmly closed one of the most tran- 


150 The Court and Cam^ of David. 

quil, romantic lives in its early morning; 
stormiest in its advancing and declining day, 
and one of the most splendid in achievements, 
and in results to the world, in the history of 
mankind. 


The King's Cabinet and Household. 15 1 


CHAPTEE lY. 

king’s cabinet and household. 

HE government of Palestine, under 
David, began in the form of a 
limited or constitutional monarchy, 
resembling in this feature the sov- 
ereignty of England. That is to say, he 
entered into a league with the people, and 
there were mutual obligations by each party 
to be sacredly regarded. Gradually the 
power became absolute, and David, like sur- 
rounding Oriental kings, was an autocrat, 
wielding a sceptre of unquestioned supremacy. 
And yet how much superior to those pagan 
despots was the " son of Jesse,” even in the 
abilse of power ; his very sins were trivial in 
comparison to their lawless depravity. 

First in David’s cabinet was Jonathan, his 
uncle, who seems to have been a judicious 
adviser, and a scribe ; in fact, his secretary 



152 The Court and Camf of David, 

of state, and a man of acknowledged wisdom 
and worth. 

Next in rank was Jehiel, private tutor to 
the king’s sons. Although little is recorded 
of him, he must have been preeminent in gifts 
and the culture of the times, to have held a 
position of so great responsibility, — a relation 
to the monarch of the nearest domestic inter- 
est and influence. 

The third cabinet officer was Ahithophel, a 
special counsellor. His political sagacity was 
so extraordinary, that he alone is mentioned 
in the Bible as having such oracular dignity 
among the Hebrews, apart from prophetic 
inspiration. The name of Ahithophel means 
brother of foolishness, whose significance he 
singularly illustrated when he abandoned Da- 
vid for Absalom, and then, because his coun- 
sel was not followed, went home and hanged 
himself. He is the only suicide, strictly 
speaking, mentioned in the Old Testament. 
Samson and Saul deliberately caused their 
own death, but not by their own hands. 

Hushai, the fourth in order, is termed the 
"king’s companion,” — indicating a congeni- 
ality and sympathy, which, to some degree, 



The King^s Cabinet and Household^. 153 

supplied the loss of Jonathan’s goodly fellow- 
ship. It was his shrewd management that 
defeated the plotting of Ahithophel. 

Jehoiada, the son of Benaiah, is the fifth 
member of the cabinet mentioned, while he is 
put next to Ahithophel in political wisdom and 
importance. The most learned expounders 
of the Scriptures find great difficulty in deter- 
mining just who Jehoiada was, because to 
suppose his father to have been Benaiah, the 
military hero, they think would make him too 
young to have a place second only to Ahitho- 
phel in honor, on account of his ability and 
knowledge in public afiairs. But we shall 
never in time have the vexe.d question settled, 
— another instance of God’s indifference to 
the mere questioning or cavils of human curi- 
osity and self-conceit. 

Abiathar, the priest, makes the sixth digni- 
tary around the monarch of Israel. The word 
means father of abundance. He was the 
tenth Hebrew high-priest, and the fourth 
in descent from Eli. When comparatively 
young he escaped the slaughter of eighty-five 
priests, at Nob, by Saul, and fled to David’s 
care, at Adullam, carrying with him the 


154 The Court and Cam^ of David, 

ephod, and becoming there the priest of 
David. 

When David ascended the throne of J udah at 
Hebron, Abiathar was appointed high-priest. 
At the same moment Zadok held the office 
by the appointment of Saul, upon the rejec- 
tion of the house of Eli, whose erring sous 
were slain in battle. Both were good men 
for the place, but two high-priests seemed as 
absurd as two kings of a single realm. What 
could David do ? It would be hard to depose 
Abiathar, who had been his faithful priestly 
friend during his wanderings in the wilder- 
ness, and he had no authority to set aside 
the regularly appointed successor of Eli, thus 
offending the Hebrews, who, recently the 
subjects of Saul, recognized Zadok as their 
high-priest. He at length escaped the dilem- 
ma by allowing both to remain in office, 
sharing the responsibilities and duties of the 
sacred service. But when Abiathar joined 
Adonijah in his futile attempt to get the 
crown, he forfeited all his sacred honors. 
Solomon removed him from office, plainly 
telling him that his sacerdotal character alone 
saved him from death. 



The Kin^s Cabinet and Household. 155 

He retired to private life; and thus ended 
the line of Ithamar, Aaron’s youngest son, to 
which belonged the extinct house of Eli, 
whose doom Jehovah had years before sealed 
and declared. 

Zadok was descended from Eleazar, the 
eldest son of Aaron, the senior branch of the* 
divinely-appointed priesthood. 

In connection with these six members of 
the king’s cabinet, his general, Joab, is men- 
tioned, without aii}^ further notice of him in 
'this relation. 

We have no records of the cabinet meet- 
ings, the details of the governmental business 
in which the members of it shared. The 
grand conferences between the monarch and 
the men nearest his throne, during the excit- 
ing periods of his reign, are as unknown as 
their ashes, and will be until the judgment 
day. 

In the regal establishment were twelve 
royal bailiffs, or officers in charge of the king’s 
resources and wealth. 

Over David’s treasures of gold and silver, 
and all his jewelry, was Azmaveth, the son of 
Adiel. 


156 The Court and Camf of David, 

Jehonatlian, whose father was Uzziah, had 
charge of the storehouses or magazines of the 
cities, and in the castles of the land. 

Ezri was superintendent of agriculture ; 
under his supervision was the general tillage. 

Shiinei was overseer of the vineyards, and 
Zabdi of the wine cellars. 

Baal-hanan was put in charge of sycamore 
and olive trees of the valleys and plains, and 
Joash of the oil cellars. The olives yielded 
the best oil, if bruised and pressed while 
green. There was a peculiar kind of press, 
to use which the feet were employed, called 
gathsheman, or gethsema 7 ie, that is, the oil- 
jpress. 

How appropriately it is applied to the place 
where Jesus sweat for us, "as it were great 
drops of blood falling to the ground.” 

Shitrai was over the herds on the plains of 
Sharon, and Shaphat of those in the valleys. 

Obil, an Ishmaelite, was bailiff in charge 
of the camels. His nationality gives us a 
glimpse of what doubtless was true of all 
these officers — their selection because par- 
ticularly adapted by taste and culture to their 
several posts of duty. Obil, being an Ara- 



The King’s Cabinet and Household. 157 

bian, knew well how to manage the '' ships of 
the desert.” 

Jedediah had charge of the asses — an ani- 
mal quite as common then in the East as 
horses are here now. 

Jaziz was shepherd-in-chief, — the royal 
flocks were led by him. And we cannot 
doubt those immense flocks, in their green 
pastures, were not only a beautiful sight, but 
very highly valued by the shepherd-king, 
whom they reminded of his early life in 
Bethlehem ; and of the Lamb Isaiah saw in 
vision led to the slaughter. 

There were also princes of the tribes, the 
” ancient men,” who were their constant rulers, 
corresponding in position, but not in power, 
with the chiefs of Indian tribes. 

•■ They ranked among the most honorable of- 
ficials of the realm, and were often consulted 
in affairs of interest to the tribes by David. 
Throughout his dominions order reigned. Ev- 
erjdhing was reduced to system. He believed 
practically in the divine law, and therefore 
huQian duty, in regard to ordering our secular 
affairs and our religious life methodically, 
leaving nothing out of the harmonious plan. 



158 The Court and Camf of David, 

The immediate family of David was com- 
posed of six wives, and their six sons. Ex- 
cepting brief notices of IMichal, Abigail, 
Maacah, and Bathsheba, we know nothing of 
these female members of his household. 

Of the young men, Absalom, Adonijah, 
and Solomon were conspicuous. The king’s 
domestic trials were very severe, owning main- 
ly to his ambitious marriages, bad maternal 
influences over his children, and the jealousies 
which attend the ancient Oriental custom of 
polygam3^ But there was little resemblance 
in the plurality of wives, allow^ed in olden 
time, to modern Mormonism. The latter is 
the outgrowth of a monstrous and blasphe- 
mous delusion, introducing in a concentrated 
form, and under the sanctions of a new reve- 
lation from .heaven, this bane of the original 
and sacred relation of husband and wife. 
Right in the midst of the Christian civilization 
of the nineteenth century we have this com- 
munity, gathered from the disaffected and 
sceptical poor of nearly all lands, herding 
together. They resemble the Ishmaelites in 
their hostility to those who desire to live 
within the limits of their territory; and 



The King'^s Cabinet and Household. 159 

sooner or later, like slavery, must this shame- 
ful outrage upon religion and social order go 
down, if necessary, in blood. 

There is no charge recorded against David 
of uukindness in his family relations. He 
was evidently an affectionate husband and 
father, perhaps too indulgent to his children, 
some of whom were distinguished for genius 
and beauty — both dangerous gifts without 
the graces of the Spirit.” 

Unsanctified intellect, and wealth, and per- 
sonal attractions have wrecked millions, in- 
volving others in the same ruin, through the 
seductive power of an unhallowed influence. 

God gave David a wonderful son when Sol- 
omon was born, the comfort and pride of his 
declining years. Under the sceptre in his 
youthful hand, the aged monarch saw, by the 
light of Jehovah’s promises, the glory of Is- 
rael’s temporal power rising to its zenith, 
crowned by the Shechinah flooding a temple 
of marvellous magnificence. 

Solomon was a brilliant sovereign in natu- 
ral gifts, and in the prosperity of his king- 
dom. His wealth and court display greatly 
exceeded his flither’s. His noble choice of 


i6o The Court and Camf of David, 

divine guidance as his chief good was the 
secret of all other blessings. 

'' It was his first to prove to the world that 
peace has greater triumphs and richer glories 
than war. All the useful as well as elegant 
arts found in him at once a pattern and a 
patron. He collected the floating wisdom of 
his country, after having intermingled it with 
his own, into compact shape. He framed a 
rude and stuttering science, beautiful, doubt- 
less, in its simplicity, when he 'spake of all 
manner of trees,’ from the cedar to the hys- 
sop. He summoned into being the power of 
commerce, and its infant feats were mighty, 
and seemed, in that day, magical. He began 
to bind hostile countries together by the mild 
tie of barter — a lesson which might have 
been taught him, in the forest of Lebanon, 
by the interchange between the 'gold clouds 
metropolitan ’ above, and the soft valleys of 
Eden below. He built palaces of new and 
noble architecture ; and although no pictures 
adorned the gates of the temple, or shone 
above the altar of incense, or met the eyes 
of the thousands who worshipped within the 
court of the Gentiles, yet was not that tern- 


The King^s Cabinet and Household, i6i 

pie itself — with its roof of marble and gold, 
its flights of steps, its altars of steaming in- 
cense, its cherubic shapes, its bulls and molten 
sea — one picture, painted on the canvas of 
the city of Jerusalem, with the aid of the 
hand which had painted long before the gal- 
lery of the heavens? In poetiy, too, he 
excelled, without being so fllled and trans- 
ported by its power as his father ; and, as 
with David, all his accomplishments and deeds 
were, during the greater part of his life, ded- 
icated to, and accepted by. Heaven.” 

Still, his character was a most singular com- 
bination of qualities. With heavenly light 
falling upon his genius, he stooped to sensual 
indulgence, and imitated in luxury the pagan 
monarchies around him. The close of his 
contradictory experience was full of sadness, 
without the clear accents of penitence which 
burst from David’s lips. God has left his 
destiny under a cloud. 

The reign of David was the great era of 
Hebrew history. It decided the continuance 
of the monarchy for nearly five centuries ; it 
established a line of priesthood, and a ’'sol- 
emn religious, worship by music and psalms 
11 



1 62 The Court and Camf of David. 

of exquisite beauty.” His sovereignty, the 
grandest the world has known, will ever be 
solitary in signihcance, because of his relation 
to the Messiah. 

David, in the achievements of the battle- 
field, was the ”Lion of the tribe of Judah,” 
as Christ is spiritually. The Hebrew mon- 
archy itself, under him, was designed to 
jorepare the way of the Lord, to gather 
imperishable materials for the kingdom of 
Him who was hailed by the voices of child- 
hood shouting " hosannas to the Son of 
David.” 

We have not spoken of David as holding a 
patriarchal rank in the Scriptures, nor of the 
higher honor conferred upon him — a place 
among the prophets. In the book of Psalms, 
his predictions respecting Christ and his 
kingdom are manifold and clear. 

Peter, in his great sermon on the day of 
Pentecost, said, "Men and brethren, let me 
freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, 
that he is both dead and buried, and his sep- 
ulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore, 
being a prophet, and knowing that God had, 
with an oath, sworn to him” that Jesus should 


The King^s Cabinet and Household. 163 

have his earthly lineage through his descend- 
ants, and sit on the throne of Israel, he pre- 
dicted the Messiah’s advent and glory. This 
prophetic inspiration will be clearly seen in 
our necessarily brief consideration of the 
Psalms. 

While Moses was the lawgiver of Israel, 
and Elijah, in his preeminence among ancient 
seers, represented John the Baptist of the new 
dispensation, David was the type of Christ. He 
conquered his foes, and gave his treasures for 
the building of the temple. Jesus is "con- 
quering and to conquer,” having given his life- 
blood for that spiritual temple, so beautifullj^ 
described in the second chapter of the First 
Epistle of Peter. 

And David has for ages rejoiced in His 
smile, after whom the " whole family in heav- 
en and earth are named.” Into that family- 
fellowship, or forever away from it, shall we 
all soon be gathered. 


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THE CAMP OF DAVID. 


CHAPTER I. 

DAVIB’s mLITARY GENIUS AND CULTURE. 


HE intellectual greatness of David 
|p§ appeared whenever a new demand 
was made upon his genius. His 
earliest appearance amid martial 
scenes was evidently his visit to the He- 
brew camp, when the tented host were trem- 
bling under the loud challenge of Goliath 
of Gath. The only discipline for heroic deeds 
among the hills of Bethlehem, apart from his 
home, had been that of the victorious encoun- 
ters with the wild beasts which invaded his 
flocks. But he was no dreaming poet whose 
harp merely beguiled the hours of a shep- 
herd’s solitude. 

( 165 ) 


1 66 The Court and Camf of David, 

We do not doubt that he had reflected 
much upon the military achievements of his 
own people, and cherished the hope of meet- 
ing, at some time, their hostile and pagan 
neighbors on the field of battle. For, when 
he saw and heard the boastful Philistine and 
the alarm of Israel, he spoke with the intelli- 
gent heroism of a gifted soul not unfamiliar 
with the nature of the conflict, and the spirit 
with which it must be conducted by his coun- 
trymen. His religious faith was the great 
element of strength in his character. 

History has no similar record of military 
genius, appearing unheralded and in a form 
of youthful bloom, to control and decide vic- 
toriously the issues of a great national battle. 

The conquerors who led the armies of 
Greece and Eorne were educated for their 
ambitious career. The modern prodigy of in- 
tellect and martial success, Napoleon, emerged 
from the walls of the best military schools 
into the stormy scenes of a French revolution. 

David went from his sheep pastures, wdth 
his basket of supplies for his brothers, and 
sling in hand for any providential call upon 
his skill in its use. 


Davids s Military Genius and Culture. 167 

We have not the least intimation that the 
young hero had any assurance of divine aid 
beyond the "present help in time of need,” 
which had hitherto signally rewarded his faith 
in the living God. 

The lofty courage of the boy cannot be 
appreciated without regarding him thus act- 
ing in the gallant spirit of patriotism and 
trust in the Almighty, instead of consciously 
commissioned to work a miraculous deliver- 
ance for his people. His indignation burned 
against the defiant pagan, and the cowardice 
of his own people ; and he ofiered to bring 
on the decisive struggle by meeting the scorn- 
ful Goliath. His confidence in God, as the 
ground of expected triumph, was simply that 
of Samuel, and Paul, and Luther, and Crom- 
well. The duty of the critical hour was plain ; 
the results with God. 

Never before nor since that combat has 
heaven looked down upon a sublimer earthly 
scene. The shepherd-volunteer, with firm 
and manly step, advances towards his gigan- 
tic foe, and lays him at his feet, between two 
vast and excited armies. 

This opening scene in David’s military 


1 68 The Court and Camf of David, 

career suggests the whole question of the 
lawfulness of war. 

However fearful the waste of life and prop- 
erty, and the demoralizing eflects of the 
appeal to arms in the defence of national ex- 
istence, its certainty and even necessity on a 
fallen sphere is recognized by precept and 
example in the Bible. That men ought to 
settle all quarrels and opposing claims without 
the cruel resort to sanguinary conflict, none 
can doubt or deny. But they never have, 
nor will they until the gospel of peace per- 
vades society and governs the conscience and 
politics of the world. Self-protection, indi- 
vidually and nationally, sometimes demands 
the shedding of blood. 

God -expressly declares that David was de- 
signed by Him to be a "man of war,” and to 
subdue the enemies of Israel. No sooner had 
he become an exile by the persecution of 
Saul, than he attracted to him, by the very 
magnetism of valor, fired by the inspiration of 
the Lord, adherents. Following his father’s 
family, came adventurous spirits, chafing I 
against the tyranny of Saul, and in sympathp 
with him — volunteers under his command. 


David; s Military Genius and Culture » 169 

Eleven Gadites from beyond Jordan are 
graphically described by the sacred historian : 
” They were men of might and of war, fit for 
the battle, that could handle shield and buck- 
ler, whose faces were like the faces of lions, 
and were as swift as roes upon the mountains.” 

The affair at Keilah, near the forest of 
Hareth, in whose deep seclusion David and 
his six hundred braves had their fortress, was 
the opening encounter with the Philistines. 
These ancient and warlike enemies of Israel 
embraced the favoring condition of affairs in 
Israel for a raid, and made a sudden assault 
upon this town of Judah, foraging and wast- 
ing on every hand. The burdened threshing- 
ffoors were swept of their grain, and the 
invaders, unharmed, returned with their spoils 
to their own land. 

David was no bandit, nor lawless leader of 
roving Bedouins. He was a God-fearing 
exile, acting in self-defence, and waiting for 
the providential tokens of duty and destiny. 

Through Abiathar, his priest, he sought the 
Lord’s approval of an avenging pursuit of his 
enemies. Against fearful odds, before whose 
might his troops hesitated until reassured by 



170 The Court and Cam^ of David, 

the command to go forward, the chieftain 
fought and conquered. 

The gallant and brilliant achievement won 
the admiration of Saul, while it intensified his 
hate towards his rival. 

During several years the chief led his men 
into the hostile regions on every side. His 
invasion of the wild tribes on the frontiers of 
Israel, and his avenging attack upon the camp 
of the Ainalekites, after the sacking of Ziklag, 
were all successful. The latter would be 
called a splendid display of heroism and mili- 
tary dash in any age of the world. 

Not always justifiable in his policy or 
action, but having the infirmities of our hu- 
manity, with false views on questions of public 
justice and social order peculiar to the age, 
he has left on the annals of his military career 
the undisguised errors of his tempted and un- 
sanctified heart. But the day the crown was 
laid upon his brow in Hebron, he was incom- 
parably the most gifted, heroic, and blameless 
prince on earth. 

Exile life had made him not only fruitful in 
the resources of military skill necessity cre- 
ated, but he had learned the tactics and 



David’s Military Genius and Culture, 171 

strength of surrounding nations and tribes. 
He was prepared to defend his throne and 
people. 

David increased the standing array intro- 
duced by Saul, and in all the material and ap- 
pointments of war raised the military power of 
the Hebrews to an acknowledged superiority. 

The sword and spear were the common 
arms for close conflicts, and the javelin, the 
bow, and the sling, for fighting the enemy 
at a distance. Ballistaj and catapults which 
threw stones and javelins, and even beams 
of wood, and battering-rams to break down 
wails, were the largest machines of war. 
The round shield or buckler, held in the left 
hand, the helmet covering the head, and the 
breastplate or cuirass clasped around the 
bod}^, were the means of defence against hos- 
tile weapons. 

Before commencing war, the Hebrews con- 
sulted the divine oracles, and the heathen 
nations resorted to witches, soothsayers, and 
similar counsellors. When a sudden invasion 
took the people by surprise, the alarm was 
given by messengers rapidly riding forth 
among the tribes, the sound of trumpets, 


172 The Court and Cam^ of David. 

banners on the loftiest summits, and the 
clamor of voices on the mountains, echoing 
from summit to summit. As now, campaigns 
were opened in the spring and summer, the 
troops going into quarters for the winter. 

Victories were attended with great destruc- 
tion to the enemy. It was usual to raze 
cities to the ground, and take not only the 
natural products of the soil, but carry into 
captivity and sell the wives and children of 
the conquered foe. In the rude, unsettled 
state of society, such havoc was made to help- 
lessly weaken, if impossible to annihilate, an 
enemy. 

We have but a faint conception of the stir- 
ring scenes which followed a great victory. 
The wild lamentations of the defeated host 
over this spoliation were drowned by the glad 
shouts of triumph resounding along the hill- 
tops, and the music of the processions of wo- 
men and children in the valleys. 

Distinguished bravery was rewarded by 
valuable presents and honorable matrimonial 
alliances. David instituted a separate corps 
or order of soldiers who were the most re- 
nowned for valor. 


David's Military Genius and Culture, 173 

The Cherethites and Pelethites, with Gittite 
heroes, were the body-guard of David, and 
numbered six hundred men. 

They were choice warriors, whom the king 
relied upon for any daring service, and of 
whom any modern prince or commander 
would have been justly proud. 

They figured especially in the great civil 
war under Absalom. The names, it is be- 
lieved, mean "headsmen” and "foot-runners.” 

They seem to have resembled the Roman 
lictors, who carried the axe both as a badge 
of office and for effective use. 

The Hebrews regarded themselves as the 
rightful possessors of Palestine, by Jehovah’s 
appointment and by inheritance. Pagan in- 
vaders were, therefore, viewed in the strong 
light of lawless enemies of God and his peo- 
ple, entitled to no mercy. 

David was a man of war, and a true Israel- 
ite. From the throne of Hebron went abroad 
the fear of no military despot, but the dread 
of a prince who represented in himself all the 
heroic qualities and the virtues of the nation 
to which he belonged. 

But the glory of martial prowess is the last 


174 Court and Camf of David. 

to be coveted and sought for its own sake : 
it is at best "bloody renown.” 

The victors who are to be eternally honored 
win their laurels upon the plains of spiritual 
conflict, over whose triumiDhs the unseen an- 
gels sing. 

What a question is a single couplet of the 
beautiful hymn, for every heart, and how its 
answer will appear when earthly conquerors 
and their slain armies stand before a common 
judgment seat, — 

“ Am I a soldier of the cross, 

A follower of the Lamb ? ” 


War with the House of Saul. 175 


CHAPTER 11. 

WAR WITH THE HOUSE OF SAUL. 

SH-BOSHETH, the only son of Sanl 
who survived him, was the occasion 
of the new king’s first appeal to 
arms. He was not in the great bat- 
tle among whose slain were his father and 
brothers. A man of no strong qualities of 
character, he was easily influenced by a supe- 
rior mind. Abner, his uncle, had been com- 
mander-in-chief of Saul’s army, and was a 
general of splendid abilities and unscrupu- 
lous ambition. 

He proudly resolved to prevent the ac- 
knowledgment of David’s sovereignty over 
Israel. It was more than he could bear, to 
lay his honors at the feet of Jesse’s exiled 
son, his master’s royal rival, and his own, in 
the arena of military exploits. 

Flattering Ish-bosheth with his legitimate 



176 The Court and Camf of David, 

inheritance of the throne, he induced him to 
accept the crown. He escorted the prince to 
Mahanaim, a city of the Levites, lying within 
the territory of the tribe of Gad, upon the 
east of Jordan. No details are related of the 
steps taken to secure the consent of all the 
tribes but Judah to the inauguration of Saul’s 
son. But the plot succeeded well, and the 
day came when the splendid pageant was to 
be witnessed at Mahanaim. The thousands 
of Israel’s chosen men assembled there, and 
Abner was the ruling spirit of the revolt. 

The holy oil was poured on the head of 
Ish-bosheth, the trumpets sounded, and the 
shout, "Long live the king!” rose above the 
multitude, and echoed among the solitary 
hills. 

That day’s sun went down upon an appar- 
ently successful conspiracy against the throne 
of David. 

Mahanaim was chosen by Abner because 
it was the centre of the region on whose in- 
habitants he relied, and was a place of great 
security. The larger cities on the other side 
of Jordan were in the hands of the Philistines, 
or exposed to their raids. 



War with the House of Saul. 177 

The next move in the game of ambition and 
revolution was Abner’s advance with his 
army to Gibeon, a city of Benjamin, the tribe 
to which the family of Saul belonged. The 
object of the march and occupation of the 
town, was to strengthen his cause in the sym- 
pathies of the tribes on whose territory his 
standard was planted, while moving south- 
ward towards Hebron in Judah. 

The months passed by, and Abner’s battal- 
ions were encamped at Gibeon, with no other 
result than the loyalty of all but the tribe of 
Judah to the sceptre of Saul’s son. 

At length David ordered Joab, his general- 
in-chief, to lead his troops against Abner, 
watch the enemy, and check his progress. 
Abishai and Asahel, his brothers, were able 
officers under him. They were David’s 
nephews. 

Abner summoned his forces to meet those 
of Joab. The armies came in sight of each 
other at the Pool of Gibeon, — an artificial 
reservoir of water, into which flowed a stream 
from the natural fountain in a cave just 
above it. 

At Gibeon, Joshua fought his great battle. 



1 78 The Court and Camf of David, 

when, to give him time to conquer gloriously, 
God gave the word of command that sta^^ed the 
sun and moon in their courses. How this was 
done the Lord of the universe has not informed 
us ; but his purposes include the whole order 
of nature, and what seems impossible to us 
is possible and easy with God. 

Abner was on one side of the pool, and 
Joab on the other, the hostile legions lying 
face to face. 

A singular proposition was now made by 
Abner. It was, that a number of young men 
from each army should " play before them ; ” 
that is, have a tournament, or military duel, 
in the presence of the generals and their 
troops. Soon twelve youthful soldiers from 
Joab’s host stepped forth to meet an equal 
number of Benjamites from Abner’s. 

The meeting of the combatants seemed to 
madden them. They sprang like tigers to the 
conflict. In a moment the foemen were in 
deadly embrace, their hands buried in the 
hair, and their swords piercing the bodies of 
each other, until they all fell together in 
bloody, hideous death. The spot was well 
named the field of rocky men. 




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War with the House of Saul, 179 

This heap of the slain was the signal of a 
general battle along the lines. Emulating the 
heroic twenty-four, who fought until the last 
heart had ceased to beat, the hostile ranks 
closed in deadly strife. The graphic expres- 
sion, "There was a sore battle that day,” tells 
the tragic story of the dire encounter. 

With the declining sun the tide of battle 
turned against Abner, and his routed army 
began to retreat. Asahel, the son of Zeruiah, 
David’s noble sister, who, on account of his 
remarkable fleetness, was said to be "as light 
of foot as a wild roe,” pursued Abner. He 
was ambitious to have a grand trophy of his 
agility and valor. Gaining rapidly upon his 
enemy, he was soon within striking distance. 
Abner turned around, and inquiring if he were 
Asahel, when answered in the affirmative, 
begged of him to pursue some other fugitive, 
and be content to bear away the armor of a 
humbler man from the scene of conflict. But 
Asahel kept his undiverted eye upon Abner, 
resolved to seize him or lose all. The chief- 
tain, either from fear or respect for his more 
than equal in the battle-field, told Asahel he 
desired to avoid killing the brother of Joab, 


i8o The Court and Camf of David. 

and begged him again to turn aside, and give 
his attention to another. But the young man 
only increased his pace, and stretched forth 
his hand towards Abner, when a back-stroke 
from the flying commander’s spear brought 
Asahel to the ground. The blood gushed 
from the torn flesh; a gasp, followed by 
ghastly pallor, and Asahel was a corpse at 
Abner’s feet. 

The Hebrew warriors, hurrying after the 
foe, halted by the dead body, dumb with sur- 
prise and sorrow over the loss of a favorite 
commander, famous for the celerity of his 
movements no less than for his gallantry. 

No higher tribute could have been paid to 
Asahel than this gathering host of pursuing 
countiymen around the crimsoned, manly 
form of the sleeper. 

Joab and his remaining brother Abishai, 
doubtless exasperated by the murder, pressed 
on after Abner until the flush of the sun’s 
farewell was fading in the western sky. 

The pause in the general pursuit had given 
Abner’s troops time to rally on the hill Ar- 
mah, by the path through the wilderness of 
Gibeon. Abner was among them, watching 



War with the House of Saul. i8i 

the approach of Joab, who halted when in 
speaking distance of his enemy. 

Abner’s voice was soon heard proposing a 
truce. He called aloud to Joab, "Shall the 
sword devour forever? Knowest thou not that 
it will be bitterness in the latter end ? How 
long'shall it be, then, ere thou bid the people 
return from following their brethren ? ” 

"As God liveth,” replied Joab, " unless thou 
hadst spoken, surely then in the morning the 
people had gone up every one from following 
his brother ; ” intending to charge Abner with 
being the cause of the bloody conflict that had 
taken place, by the challenge which he gave 
in the morning near the Pool of Gibeon. 

Joab was ready to close the contest, and 
ordered the signal-trumpet to be sounded, 
which summoned his troops to withdraw. 
They took up the line of march for Mahana- 
im. The evening shadows were now creep- 
ing over the great wilderness that surrounded 
the weary travellers ; and the beams of the 
brightening stars were reflected from sword 
and spear of the retreating host. Over the 
Jordan, and through the deep forests, the 
troops went gloomily forward, until the light 


i 82 The Court and Cam^ of David. 

of a new day shone npon their entrance into 
the royal city. 

At break of the same day Joab’s troops 
defiled through the streets of Hebron towards 
the palace of David, having lost only twenty 
of their number, and Abner three hundred 
and sixty men. 

Asahel’s body was taken to Bethlehem, and 
buried in the sepulchre of his father. 

For about five years after the battle of Gib- 
eon there were frequent collisions between 
the hostile forces of David and Ish-bosheth. 
But, from the mere allusions to these, it is 
evident that no great battles were fought. 
David, unwilling to slaughter his own peo- 
ple, seems to have let his rival alone, with the 
exception of these skirmishes ; meanwhile, 
augmenting his own power, and waiting for 
the developments of Providence. We may 
safely challenge the sceptic, who makes scorn- 
ful mirth over the sins of David, to find in all 
ancient history another instance of military 
defence more ably managed along with so 
sacred a regard to the lives of hostile coui> 
try men. 

It is only necessary to read the annals of 


War with the House of Saul. 183 

the age in which he reigned, to see the ele- 
vated spirit of this gifted ruler in the war with 
the house of Saul. 

A quarrel between Abner and Ish-bosheth, it 
will be remembered, at length closed the rival 
king’s career, cost Abner his life, and estab- 
lished the undisputed reign of David in 
Palestine. 

The question of Abner, "Shall the sword 
devour forever?” still rings over sanguinary 
battle-fields in every land. The sword does 
devour unceasingly. Its havoc has reached 
nearly all of our American homes, and is 
darkening almost daily domestic altars of the 
Old World. 

Yes, it shall cease to devour ; for God has 
declared it. The resplendent morning is on 
the wing when the last contest shall have red- 
dened the earth, and the weapons of war shall 
be converted into the peaceful implements of 
husbandry. 

Christ assures us that to be angry without 
cause — in other words, in a passion — is mur- 
der. Because this spirit of revenge seeks to 
destroy, or at least harm, the. object of hate. 
But in a defensive war, waged to protect 


184 The Court and Camf of David, 

divinely-giveu rights, there need not be in 
the heart any malice or anger. The prayerful 
soul may enter the smoke of battle, without 
the fear either to meet the foe, or to go to God 
from the dismal tumult. 

War was justly regarded by the Orientals 
as a judgment from God. How like heavenly 
music floats the benediction of Jesus over 
the discord of human passions : Blessed are 
the peacemakers, for they shall be called the 
children of God.” 



Battles with Pagan Nations. 185 


CHAPTER III. 

BATTLES WITH THE JEBUSITES, THE PHILIS- 
TINES, THE MOABITES, THE SYRIANS, THE 
EDOMITES, AND THE AMALEKITES. 

HE Hebrew king, upon his attain- 
ment of universal sovereignty over 
Israel, saw that conquest by his 
arms, and a new, more central, and 
strongly fortified capital, would greatly in- 
crease his influence among the surrounding 
nations. 

A campaign was immediately planned against 
Jebus, also called Jerusalem. David marched 
at the head of his army of three hundred and 
thirty-seven thousand men towards Mount 
Moriah, of sacred memory. 

It must have been a stirring spectacle. 
Along the solitary highway, bordered with 
the palm and olive tree, the monarch led his 
host, armed with swords, javelins, slings, and 



i86 The Court and Cain^ of David. 

bows, twenty miles northward, to the gates of 
the coveted city. 

It had resisted, successfully, repeated as- 
saults, and the inhabitants felt perfectly se- 
cure. To make mirth of the besiegers, they 
sent the lame and blind to the walls with the 
taunting message to the Hebrews, that these 
defenders of the town must first be subdued 
before it could be taken. The crippled and 
sightless Jebusites were true to their masters, 
and defied with insulting words the army of 
David. The contempt poured upon him and 
his troops -stung his spirit, and he issued the 
following proclamation: ” Whosoever getteth 
up to the gutter and smiteth the Jebusites, and 
the lame and blind, that are hated of David’s 
soul, he shall be the chief and captain.” The 
word ” hated ” expressed the strong indigna- 
tion of the insulted king. 

Joab had no idea of being supplanted by 
any other hero of the host, and immediately 
selected his forlorn hope,” and dashed over 
the moat, and gained an entrance into Jebus. 
The besiegers poured into the stronghold, and 
it fell. David spared the subjugated inhab- 


Battles with Paga 7 i Nations, 187 

itants, — a fact which alone vindicates his char- 
acter from the charge of wanton cruelty. 

The Jebusites had really no right to the 
city ; it belonged to the promised inheritance 
of Israel, and was defiled with their idolatries. 
David "hated” the pagans as such, and liot 
with the malice of a cruel nature, or of a 
personal enemy. 

His treatment of these heathen does not ap- 
proach the crimes of this republic in its treach- 
erous and sanguinary dealings with the Indian 
tribes, who once were the only inhabitants of 
America. Their wrongs cry to Heaven contin- 
ually for vengeance. And yet men will scoff 
at David for his warfare upon heathen neigh- 
bors, who will glory in the darker annals of 
the most Christian nation on the earth. And 
God everywhere, in his Word and by his prov- 
idence, teaches us, that, although he has no 
pleasure in the sufferings and death of man or 
animal, the duration of the life of either, is 
of small importance compared with the general 
progress and redemption of the human race. 

He permits the wages of sin to be paid to 
the guilty, and war, pestilence, and famine to 
waste whole kingdoms. To the complaining 


1 88 The Court and Camf of David, 

and unbelieving, his message comes with aw- 
ful authority: ”Be still, and know that I am 
God.” 

David had scarcely repaired and improved 
his new metropolis, before he heard tidings of 
war from the land of the Philistines. The 
people who had befriended the exile now be- 
gan to dread the monarch’s extending sway, 
and determined to strike a weakening blow 
before he had time to increase his means of 
defence. They swarmed in battle-array into 
the valley of Kephaim, lying south-west of 
Jerusalem, on the right of the road to Bethle- 
hem. In this region had dwelt the ancient 
inhabitants of Palestine, bearing the same 
name of the valley, and also called the "sons 
of Anak,” and "giants.” 

David was evidently alarmed, on account 
of his partial preparation for a battle of such 
magnitude, and went with his troops to his 
old fortress, the stronghold near Bethlehem. 
There he inquired, through his priest, of the 
Lord what he should do — whether he should 
go with his inferior force against the enemy, 
or seek terms of peace. Jehovah was ready 
to defend his trusting servant, and punish 



Battles with Pagan Nations. 


his idolatrous enemies ; therefore he com- 
manded the king to put his troops in order of 
battle. 

The men of war were marshalled, and, ani- 
mated by the king’s assurance of the Lord’s 
promised aid, advanced valiantly upon the en- 
emy. Both sides were in fearful earnest ; for 
it was the first meeting on the plains of battle 
of that powerful pagan people with the forces 
of the new monarch, whom, before his coro- 
nation, they had protected. If now the Philis- 
tines could conquer Israel, and sack Jerusalem, 
not far off, before its strong fortifications were 
completed, they would have little to fear any 
more from the Hebrews and their God. Their 
own deities were carried with the troops to se- 
cure the victoiy. The shock of assault deep- 
ened into desperate conflict, whose fortunes, 
for a brief period only, wavered. The lines 
of the heathen battalions gave way, and the 
wild shout of triumph from the victorious host 
rose over the retreating and broken ranks of 
the Philistines. Such were their panic and 
haste, they left their gods on the field, which 
were soon gathered into a burning pile, whose 
smoke went up to the bending sky, an offer- 


190 The Court and Cam^ of David, 

ing to Him who had given his chosen the 
victory. 

Very finely appears David’s holy loyalty to 
God in his rejoicing. He said, "The Lord 
hath broken forth upon mine enemies before 
me, as the breach of waters.” That is, as the 
waters break through mighty barriers, carry- 
ing them all away, so Jehovah had made the 
comparatively small army of Israel the tide 
of successful war upon the proud ranks of 
the enemy, and would complete the work be- 
gun. The king, "therefore, called the name 
of the place Baal-perazim” — the master of 
breaches. 

The defeat deepened the apprehension of 
David’s growing power ; and, dissatisfied with 
this trial of military strength, the heathen 
host returned to the plains so recently red- 
dened with blood. When David heard of the 
repeated challenge, he sought again counsel 
of the Lord, and was bidden to accept it. A 
sign of the divine power was promised ; it 
was a mysterious sound in the tops of the 
mulberry trees which grew along the line of 
his circuitous march. 

How beautifully appears the loyalty of Da- 


Battles with Pagan Nations. 191 

vid to God, and the absence of a mere lust 
of power, or desire for military glory ! 

When the strange music of God’s victorious 
presence rose from the mulberry trees, David 
sounded the advance, and the Hebrew battal- 
ions rushed upon the foe. The rout of the 
Philistines was complete. The devout hero, 
rejoicing in God, returned to his throne. Al- 
though he gives no audible token of his near- 
ness, the Lord does no less truly and clearly 
interpose in behalf of those who in time of 
trouble inquire of him. He is ever ” the re- 
warder of them who diligently seek him.” 
Not only in the commonest affairs of life will 
he make known his will, and deliver from 
doubts and fears, but in the more serious 
concerns of the soul — the spiritual conflicts 
whose victories lead to a crown, or rayless 
despair — the Savior-King never deserts those 
who meekly inquire of him and cheerfully 
obey his voice. The soldier of the cross shall 
come off ” more than conqueror through Him 
who loved us and gave himself for us.” 

About four years later, when David had fin- 
ished the fortifications of Jerusalem, and got 
his augmented army in good discipline, he 


192 The Court and Cam^ of David, 

Avas commissioned to take the offensive against 
the Philistines, and recover the rights of Israel 
to promised possessions. The resistance of 
the disheartened foe was faint in contrast with 
the former aggressive Avars. 

The HebreAvs moved upon Metheg-Am- 
mah, the name of Gath and her towns. Its 
signification was the bridle of Ammah^ be- 
cause that chief city of the nation Avas situ- 
ated in the mountain of Ammah, and alone 
had a king, and had also been the curb upon 
Israel to Av^hose hand it Avas now transferred 
by conquest. 

The conqueror then marched against Moab. 
It is true, this fierce people had been the ref- 
uge of Naomi in time of famine, and also of 
David’s parents. But tradition says that the 
latter Avere slain by the Moabites, Avho Avere 
always the sworn and merciless foes of Israel. 
The favor shoAvn David was simplj^ to gratify 
this very hate, seeking revenge against Saul, 
the reigning king of the HebreAvs. 

God had expressly forbidden Israel to ad- 
mit them into the congregation, or seek their 
peace and prosperity. Even the kindness 
Avhich spared them upon the entrance into 



Battles with Pagan Nations. 193 

Canaan was abused, and made the Moabites 
more insolent and revengeful. 

The battles were evidently few and short 
along the triumphant path of David’s troops. 
He overthrew their cities, leaving them 
smouldering heaps. The inhabitants were 
divided into three parts, the victor slaying 
two of these, to hopelessly weaken their 
power to harm him, and sparing the third to 
till the land. 

There was no other way to obtain peace 
with such an enemy ; and it is justified by all 
the usages of war, and the approval of God, 
according to Balaam’s prophecy, ”A sceptre 
shall arise out of Israel, and shall smite the 
corners of Moab.” • 

Hadadezer, a son of Kehob, king of Zobah, 
who held a part of the territory given to 
Israel beside the Eiver Euphrates, next re- 
ceived David’s notice, and offered a formida- 
ble opposition to his claim. 

This prince could draw upon his father’s 
military resources, and assembled an imposing 
army of cavalry, charioteers, and footmen. 

The details of the conflict are not given — 
the clashing of swords, the storm of arrows 
13 


194 The Court and Cam^ of David. 

, and of stones hurled hy the slingers, and the 
work of the scythed chariots, whose blades 
on every hand were dripping with gore. 
When the wild echoes of victory sounded 
along the crimsoned tide of the Euphrates, 
David’s banners were in the breeze ; seven 
hundred companies of horsemen, of ten each, 
— making in all seven thousand, — twenty 
thousand infantry, and a thousand chariots, 
were the trophies of his arms. 

The chariots were drawn by horses, two, 
and sometimes three, abreast. In them the 
warriors fought with bows and other weapons, 
not nnfrequently running out upon the pole 
between the steeds, to their shoulders, to 
reach the eitemy. Sometimes scythes were 
fastened to the axles, mowing down living 
men, as the charioteers drove furiously among 
them. 

Chariots were of little service excepting on 
level land, and then were especially dreaded 
by the Hebrews before they were employed 
by them in battle. 

The sinews of the captured horses’ legs 
were cut, to make them useless for battle, 
excepting a sufficient number to draw a hun- 


i 

i 


I 


I 



Battles with Pagan Nations > 195 

dred chariots. The maiming was attended 
with little pain, and, in the circumstances, was 
the quickest, safest, and least destructive 
method of disposing of the noblest animal in 
the service of man. It was not cruelty to 
deprive the enemy of the means of continued 
w^arfare. The measures necessary to make a 
repetition of the great American civil conflict 
impossible cannot be unjust and severe treat- 
ment of the excuseless authors of the bloody 
rebellion. 

Scarcely had victory perched upon the 
standard of Israel before the battalions of a 
strange army were seen deploying into the 
plains of death. 

From queenly Damascus came fresh troops 
to retrieve, if possible, the fortunes of the 
disastrous day to the Syrian prince. 

The signal of battle soon sounded along the 
lines of Israel, and the two armies closed in 
deadlier conflict than before. But David’s 
ensign once more floated over the tide of bat- 
tie, before which the Damascene blade was 
borne backward in the powerless hand that had 
wielded it so well. Twenty-two thousand of 
the Syrians fell in that decisive struggle, and 



196 The Court and Camf of David, 

left the Hebrew leader master of the field and 
the region represented by the foe. He gar- 
risoned the splendid city and country which 
he had conquered. 

David received gifts of gold and silver from 
the subjugated people, to which he added the 
massive shields of gold borne by the servants 
of Hadadezer, and also carried to Jerusalem 
” exceeding much brass.” He dedicated these 
treasures to the Lord, for the grand temple 
his son would build. 

The conquering king, having scattered gar- 
risons over all the region, including rocky 
Edom, returned to his capital crowned with 
military honors, with his proud preeminence 
among reigning sovereigns acknowledged by 
them all. And better still, the special care 
of Jehovah is mentioned as the cause of his 
prosperity. , 

In these material conflicts he had deeply 
and sweetly learned what Paul felt in his war- 
fare with the powers of darkness, and that of 
the whole church of Christ — " If God be for 
us, who can be against us?” 

After a few years’ interval of peace, there 
was an unlooked-for and a very singular oc- 



Battles with Pagan Nations. 197 

casion for hostilities with another powerful 
heathen nation, to whom David was indebted 
for acts of kindness. 

Nahash the king died, and his son Hanun 
ascended the throne. David, in grateful rec- 
ollection of his father’s magnanimous courtesy, 
resolved to send his royal sympathy and con- 
dolence to the new sovereign. 

Ambassadors were despatched to the court 
of Hanun, bearing the sincere interest of 
David in the afflicted prince. They waited 
upon the monarch, who listened kindly to 
their expressions of sorrow from the palace 
at Jerusalem. But his princes were either 
foolishly or maliciously suspicious of the 
strangers, and determined to prejudice Hanun 
against them. Their words of jealousy were 
a sudden alarm to the grieving monarch. 
They said, " Thinkest thou that David doth 
honor thy father, that he hath sent comforters 
to thee ? Hath not David rather sent his ser- 
vants unto thee to search the city, and to spy 
it out, and to overthrow it? ” 

Hanun’s passions were fired by the sugges- 
tion, and he rashly decided to brand with 
deepest disgrace the fancied treachery. His 


198 The Court and Camf of David, 

princes goaded him on. Plotting mischief 
themselves, they were quick to dread it when 
there was no ground whatever for their fears. 
Hanun took an effectual mode of showing his 
. resentment. He ordered one half of the beard 
of each ambassador to be shaven off, and their 
gai*ments to be cut off in the middle, and in 
this ridiculous and indecent plight sent them 
back to David. 

” The wearing of long beards and long gar- 
ments was at that time, as it is still in the 
East, a mark of personal dignity. The beard 
especially was held in great veneration ; and to 
cut it off was considered matter of the deepest 
reproach, and often as deserving the severest 
punishment. No greater insult could one king 
offer to another than Hanun did to David.” 

Hearing of the treatment which his ambas- 
sadors had received, who, in their mortifica- 
tion, refused to return home, David sent mes- 
sengers directing them to remain at Jericho, 
comparatively a retired town, till their beards 
were grown. While deliberating upon the 
means of vindicating the nation’s honor, the 
Ammonites decided the question. They an- 
ticipated the inevitable appeal to arms, and 



Battles with Pagan Nations, 199 


prepared for the field of death, where their 
contempt would be wiped out in blood, or 
be sustained by its fearful seal. To provide 
for the tremendous struggle, the Ammonites 
looked abroad for help. 

The Syrians were requested to furnish 
troops. Their country lay between the River' 
Euphrates and the Mediterranean Sea. Their 
great empire was divided into several king- 
doms. Of these, Beth-rehob and Zobah 
contributed twenty thousand troops, Ish-tob 
twelve thousand, and Maacah a thousand. 
There were thirty-two thousand chariots of 
war. 

David gave the command of his forces to 
his tried general, Joab. This brave ofiicer 
led a large army to the field, near Medeba, 
a city on the east side of Jordan, and in the 
tribe of Reuben. 

The Ammonites were under the walls of the 
city, and the Syrians a little distance away by 
themselves. This disposition of the troops 
was evidently designed to entrap Joab, and 
was a success. The chieftain of Israel moved 
upon the foe, whose proud advance was a 
challeiiire to enter the arena of decisive con- 


200 The Court and Camf of David, 

flict. Suddenly he was startled to lind him- 
self between the two armies, ready to be 
crushed by the ” upper and nether millstone ” 
pressing upon his battalions. 

The emergency brought out Joab’s une- 
qualled ability in the conduct of war. He 
selected the ” chosen men of Israel ” — the 
veteran and most valiant soldiers — and pre- 
pared to move upon the Syrian front. The 
rest of the troops were put under the com- 
mand of his brother, Abishai, to watch the 
Ammonites, who had given the post of honor, 
that is, the opening onset, to the Syrians. 
Joab's order to Abishai gives the whole plan 
of battle. 

" If the Syrians be too strong for me, then 
thou shalt help me ; but if the children of 
Ammon be too strong for thee, then I will 
come and help thee. Be of good courage, 
and let us play the men for our people, and 
for the cities of our God : and the Lord do 
that which seemeth him good.” 

Joab was a bright example of the heroism 
he commended, and inspired his troops by it. 
They followed him with a charge which swept 
the Syrians from the field. The retreat was 



Battles with Pagan Nations. 


201 


the signal for Abishai’s advance upon the Am- 
monites, who, catching the panic of their allies, 
in turn fled before his impetuous battalions. 

Content with the victory, Joab did not pur- 
sue the fugitives, but led his army back to 
Jerusalem. This magnanimity was misappre- 
hended. The Syrians, in their mortified pride, 
believing with the Ammonites that Joab's con- 
duct was the expression of cowardice, again 
entered the arena of war at the call of Hada- 
rezer, Avhose commander-in-chief was Shobach. 

David saw that the impending struggle was 
to be a great and decisive one. Leaving his 
throne, he assumed command of Israel’s grand 
army, and marched eastward over the Jordan 
towards the Euphrates. A glance at the map 
will show the reader the general direction he 
must have taken to reach the enemy’s country^ 
lying between Judea and the latter stream, 
emptying into the Persian Gulf. This milita- 
ry cavalcade was doubtless the finest that had 
ever left Judea’s capital. At Helam, situated, 
it is supposed, on the banks of the Euphrates, 
the hostile armies met. The Syrians were 
prepared for the advancing legions of Is- 
rael, their array of cavalry and charioteers 


202 The Court and Camf of David, 

presenting a splendid and formidable front. 
David ordered the attack ; and the clash of 
numberless weapons, and the sound of rushing 
chariots, were the quick response. The form 
of the Hebrew king was conspicuous among the 
surging ranks of his gallant host, smiting with 
his own hand Shobach, the general-in-chief 
of the enemy’s troops. Seven hundred chari- 
oteers went down in the slaughter, and forty 
thousand horsemen. The sanguinarj^ defeat 
satisfied the ambitious Syrians ; they gladly 
accepted terms of peace, becoming tributary 
to David, and leaving the Ammonites to their 
fate. 

The winter months suspended active opera- 
tions in the field. With the advent of spring, 
when troops break camp, and campaigns are 
carried forward, David committed the further 
subjection of the Ammonites to Joab, and re- 
mained himself in his palace, — a preference 
of luxurious ease in his elation over the bril- 
liant successes of his arms, that brought the 
darkest shadow of fatal temptation upon his 
life. 

Joab was equal to the command, and moved 
immediately upon Eabbah, the principal city 



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Battles with Pagan Nations. 203 

of the Ammonites. The town was strongly 
fortified, and refused to surrender. The re- 
sult was a siege. Around the doomed city 
lay the troops of David under his brave gen- 
eral, while the ancient enemy of God and man 
was beleaguering the unguarded spirit of the 
distant king. He was now about fifty years 
of age, and on the summit of heroic fame. 
His word was law, and to declare a wish was 
to secure its gratification : and he ceased to feel 
his own littleness and weakness before God. 

One day, in the warm spring-time, he rose 
from his noonday repose upon the flat roof 
of his palace, and saw below, engaged in her 
ablutions, the beautiful wife of a brave ofiicer 
in his army. The hero was a Hittite — de- 
scended from an old pagan tribe of Palestine. 
The monarch was conquered by unholj^ pas- 
sion, and sent to inquire who the object of his 
admiration was. When ho learned the facts, 
he still yielded to the tempter ; then sought 
to hide his sin by sending for the husband 
of Bathsheba. But in his noble patriotism 
and soldierly pride he refused to seek rest in 
his dwelling, preferring to defend the honor 
of his sovereign amid the hardships of war. 



204 The Court and Camf of David. 

David resolved to have the brave man ex- 
posed to the greatest perils of the siege, that 
he might be slain, and his wife be made a 
member of the royal family, added to those 
he had already married. 

Joab was apprised of the king’s wishes, 
and soon gave Uriah sueh a post of honor, in 
one of the assaults upon the walls of Killah, 
that he fell by the arrows of the enemy. 

The pliant, ambitious Joab immediately sent 
a messenger to Jerusalem with the tidings. 
The shrewd commander clothed the des2)ateh 
in words that would not implicate him, neither 
the king : — 

” When thou hast made an end of telling the 
matters of the war unto the king, and if so be 
that the king’s wrath arise, and he say unto 
thee. Wherefore approached ye so nigh unto 
the city when ye did fight? Knew ye not that 
they would shoot from the wall? Who smote 
Abiinelech, the son of Jerubbesheth ? Did not 
a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him 
from the wall, that he died in Thebez? Why 
went ye nigh the wall? then say thou. Thy 
servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.” 

Having received this message, David sent 



Battles with Pagan Nations. 205 

back word to Joab, "Thus shalt thou say unto 
Joab, Let not this thing displease thee, for the 
sword devoureth one as well as another : make 
thy battle more strong against the city, and 
overthrow it ; and encourage thou him.” 

Bathsheba, after the usual days of mourn- 
ing, became the wife of David. While their 
attachment to each other Avas thus sincere and 
deep, neither of them showed the least appre- 
ciation of their guilt before God; neither 
dreamed of the retributive bolts ready to fall 
upon them from his hand. 

Jehovah commissioned the faithful and fear- 
less prophet Nathan to declare his deep dis- 
pleasure, and disciplinary judgments to come. 
The curtain of fancied secrecy was to be 
drawn aside, as it will be at length, from all 
iniquity, and the hideousness of the royal sin 
hold the transgressor’s undiverted gaze. 

Nathan’s method of reproof was designed 
to make the king pronounce his own sentence 
of condemnation. He sought the palace, ap- 
parently in behalf of injured innocence, to 
secure the monarch’s interposition ; and most 
beautifully, and yet unsparingly, did the man 
of God thus deal with the transgressor. The 


2o6 The Court and Camf of David. 

touching story was soon told : " There were 
two men in one city, the one rich, and the 
other poor. The rich man had exceeding 
many flocks and herds ; but the poor man had 
nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he 
had bought and nourished up ; and it grew up 
together with him and with his children ; it 
did eat of his own meat, and drink of his own 
cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him 
as a daughter. And there came a traveller 
unto the rich man, and he spared to take of 
his own flock, and of his own herd, to dress 
for the wayfaring man that was come unto 
him, but took the poor man’s lamb, and 
dressed it for the man that was come to 
him.” 

David’s anger was kindled. He declared 
that the wealthy robber was worthy of death. 
"He shall restore the lamb fourfold,” said he, 
"because he did this thing, and because he 
had no pity.” 

Little did he anticipate the denunciation 
that now burst upon him. "Thou art the 
man ! ” exclaimed the prophet, accompanying 
the charge with a fearful message in the name 
of Jehovah. "Thus saith the Lord God of 


>k 



L 







Battles with Pagan Nations, 207 

Israel,” was its splemii introduction, followed 
by a declaration of the bivors which David 
had experienced at the hand of the Almighty, 
especially in being delivered from the mal- 
ice of Saul, and constituted king in his stead, 
with an assurance that other blessings, had 
they been needed, would have been bestowed 
upon him. "Wherefore,” continued Nathan, 
" hast thou despised the commandment of the 
Lord to do evil in his sight? Thou hast killed 
Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast 
taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain 
him with the sword of the children of Am- 
mon.” 

The most terrible judgments were then de- 
nounced against the trembling, conscience- 
stricken king; they would fall upon himself 
and his family, and involve him in the severest 
domestic trials and disgrace. "Thou didst it 
secretly,” was the conclusion of the appalling 
message ; "but I will do this thing before all 
Israel, and before the sun.” 

This divine message was not lost upon the 
kinof. It touched his heart. It brought him 
to reflection and to penitence for his guilt. 
"I have sinned against the Lord,” burst forth 


2o8 The Court and Camf of David, 

from his lips. He could say uo more. It 
was enough to show the sincerity and the 
depth of his repentance. The prophet saw 
that it proceeded from a broken and a contrite 
heart. He was authorized, in the name of his 
Master, to pronounce pardon on the offender. 
" The Lord also hath put away thy sin : thou 
sljalt not die.” The death of the bod}", the 
temporal punishment, which David had in- 
curred by his aggravated sin, should not be 
inflicted upon him, nor should he be doomed 
to that more terrible penalty of God's violated 
law, the second death — the eternal loss of his 
soul. So full of mercy is that Being, against 
whom we have all sinned, to the truly penitent. 

"Howbeit,” said the prophet at parting, 
" because by this deed thou hast given great 
occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blas- 
pheme, the child also that is born unto thee 
shall surely die.” This threatening soon be- 
gan to take effect. "The Lord struck the 
child that Uriah's wife bare unto David, and 
it was very sick.” The tender father poured 
out his supplications before God in its behalf. 
He fasted, and, in the agony of his distress, 
lay all night upon the earth. Some of his 


Battles with Pagan Nations, 209 

attendants tried to comfort him, and persuade 
him to rise and take nourishment, but in vain. 
On the seventh day the child died. David 
still remained in his retirement, tremblingly 
awaiting the result. His servants feared to let 
him know it. "Behold,” said they,' " while 
the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, 
and he would not hearken unto our voice : 
how will he then vex himself if we tell him 
that the child is dead?” 

But David saw, by their whispering to each 
other, that Death had done his work, and in- 
quired if it were not so. Upon receiving the 
assurance, he bowed in calm submission to 
the will of God. He rose from the earth, 
and having washed and anointed himself and 
changed his apparel, he went to the house of 
the Lord, and there publicly engaged in sol- 
emn acts of religious worship ; after which, 
returning to his own dwelling, he partook of 
the food that was set befoi'e him, to show that 
his fasting and weeping were now at an end. 
His servants were surprised, and inquired 
how it was that he fasted and wept while the 
child was yet alive, but that when it was dead 
he arose and did eat bread. 

14 



210 The Court and Canij> of David, 

" While the child was yet. alive,” he replied, 
"I fasted and wept; fori said. Who can tell 
whether God will be gracious to me, that the 
child may live? But now he is dead, where- 
fore should I fast? Can I bring him back 
again? I shall go to him, but he shall not 
return to me.” 

The conquering hero, overcome a few 
months before by temptation, is now sub- 
dued in child-like penitence and resignation 
at Jehovah’s feet. And who of us, when we 
reflect upon the past in which David lived, 
and our present, can declare that in the heart, 
if not openly, there has not been cherished 
greater sin? For by God "actions are 
weighed,” not only, but the "thoughts and 
intents of the heart,” which form character 
and shape deeds. 

While the scenes of criminal affection, and 
bereavement, and repentance, were making a 
new chapter of history in the palace, Joab was 
pressing successfully the siege of Eabbah. 
He had made a breach in the w^alls, cut off 
the city from its conduits of water, and had 
driven the king to an impregnable fortress. 
At this crisis he sent for his monarch. The 



Battles with Pagan Nations. 21 1 

message was another illustration of the gen- 
eral’s tact and cunning in courting his sover- 
eign’s favor. He urged the presence of David, 
lest he should take the city alone, and give 
his own name to it, thus cheating the king 
out of the honor. 

The Hebrew sovereign again took the field, 
with all the picked men of war not already 
there, and marched upon Eabbah. Joining 
Joab’s troops, a united assault was made, 
and the overthrow of the town completed. 
Then the sacking and retributive cruelties of 
the age followed. It is true the Ammonites 
had insulted, in the highest degree, David’s 
ambassadors, and brought on ,‘i bloody war; 
still we can see no sufficient excuse for put- 
ting the prisoners of war under saws and 
harrows, and burning others in brick-kilns. 
But this was done, not alone to punish the 
savage enemies of Israel, but to spread a ter- 
ror which should impress with his might the 
foes of the king, and prevent further blooshed. 

It is strange, however, that no word of 
condemnation is written in the Scriptures of 
the fearful work. The Ammonites were a 
fierce people, and David knew, had victory 


212 The Court and Camf of David. 


been theirs, all that punishment, and more, 
would have filled Palestine with mourning. 

We must leave the exact estimate of these 
deeds of horror to Him before whom, "at the 
end of the world,” there will be no confusion 
in the testimony for or against the arraigned, 
no false charity, and no proud severity of 
judgment. David took for his own brow the 
conquered king’s crown of gold and precious 
stones, with an immense amount of spoil for 
his grand army. The triumphal march was 
made to Jerusalem with flying banners, 
shouts of rejoicing echoing along the way, 
and processions of the people who remained 
at home, greeting the magnificent cavalcade. 

What strange transitions in that ancient 
life of a king ! A conqueror, then a sinning 
monarch, a weeper, a mourner, a pardoned 
friend of God, and again a royal victor, — all 
within a few months. 

We live faster at some periods, and even 
moments, of existence than at others, we all 
know. O, how much God can crowd into a 
brief time of thought, feeling, and suffering ! 
What intense joy or woe are reserved for us 
>11 the " swellings of Jordan,” and beyond ! 


Close of David’s Military Career, 213 


CHAPTER IV. 

CIVIL WAR, AND THE CLOSE OF DAVID’S 
MILITARY CAREER. 

TIE king was now compelled to face 
new dangers — to enconnter the se- 
verest trial of his sovereignty, mili- 
tary strength, and faith in 'Jehovah. 

The ancient enemy of God failed to destroy 
the youthful harper by the hands of the in- 
'fatuated Saul, and to seduce his soul with 
the idolatries of those who protected him, 
and even to work his ruin by fearful and suc- 
cessful temptations to sin ; but this last 
assault was the refinement of satanic cruelty. 
God’s providential discipline permitted the 
overwhelming calamity, according to his dec- 
laration, that domestic afflictions would crown 
the retributive blows of his sovereign and 
paternal hand. Of six sons born in Hebron, 
Absalom was his idol. The mother of this 







214 Court and Camf of David, 

young man was the Syrian princess Maacha, 
who won the admiration and love of David 
while a refugee in the realm of Geshur. Of 
her little is recorded. Heathen in origin, she 
was poorly qualified in religious character, at 
least, to mould the destiny of the gifted Absa- 
lom. Born among the hills of Hebron, he 
breathed their bracing air, and climbed in 
childhood their verdant slopes, or leaped, like 
the wild chamois, from rock to rock, in the 
deep defiles. To parental eyes he was 
wondrously fair, and his waving ringlets 
wreathed the fingers of royalty when the 
sceptre was laid by, with thrilling prophecies 
of clustering honors for the noble brow they 
adorned. The light of his fine, impulsive 
soul, flashing from the full orbs beneath soft 
lashes, outshone the precious stones of the 
monarch’s diadem, and the incense-breathins: 
lamps of the palace at nightfall. The ruddy 
hue of his cheek was the ever-fresh and livinir 
bloom of the heart’s paradise ; and his elastic 
step sent echoes of fame and gladness far 
down the vale of the king’s old age, when all 
other sounds would be growing faint upon 
his ear. But time did not linger around the 



Close of JD avid's Military Career. 215 

innocent life of the splendid boy, and youth 
matured. Absalom was a handsome, gener- 
ous, fascinating, and reckless young man. 

Indulged and flattered, he grew restive 
under parental control — the usual reward of 
a vain and partial aflfection. Gay and social, 
aspiring and unprincipled, he lived for pleas- 
ure and fame. His brothers, though less 
brilliant, were equally destitute of moral 
character. One of them fell in love with his 
half-sister, Tamar, and by a single unnatural 
crime, whose reaction was the most cruel 
abuse of his victim, so exasperated Absalom 
that he resolved to avenge the wanton deed. 
He waited two years, when, to attain the 
sanguinary object, he made a feast, on the 
occasion of sheep-shearing, and invited his 
father and his brethren. 

The monarch refused to go, but reluctantly 
o-ave his consent to the attendance of Ammon, 

O 

towards whom Absalom cherished his deadly 
hate. 

The festive board was spread, and the cup 
of intoxication passed freely, until the victim 
of vengeance was helpless ; when, at Absalom’s 
command, the assassins slew him. Terror- 


2i6 The Court and Cam-p of David. 

smitten with his deed, Absalom fled into 
lonely exile. 

The sudden and tragical close of the festi- 
val was followed by the startling rumor which 
reached the king, that all the princes but 
Absalom were dead. The palace was then a 
house of wildest mourning. The monarch lay 
upon the floor with rent robes and flowing 
tears, surrounded by his awe-struck and 
grieving attendants. 

Jonadab at length dashed into the city, 
threw the reins of his mule to the hand of 
a servant, and entered excitedly the royal 
presence. He gave a true account of the 
fratricidal deed, and told his father that his 
brothers, excepting Ammon and the flying 
Absalom, were behind, on the way to the 
capital. Their arrival soon after increased the 
number of the mourners, whose lamentations 
filled the palace. David’s sorrow was embit- 
tered by the connection between this murder 
and that of Uriah in the providential disci- 
pline, and the consciousness that indulgence 
had made Absalom passionate and reckless. 

But time, which stays not for joy or grief, 
restored again the accustomed routine of roy- 



Close 0/ David's Military Career. 217 

alty, but left deep lines of anguish in the face 
of the chief mourner, and a shadow of abiding 
gloom in his soul-lit eye. 

Three years passed over the self-exiled Ab- 
salom, and David began to feel his old love 
prevailing over his displeasure, and the long- 
ing to see his guilty boy was too strong for 
concealment. 

The wise and watchful Joab saw that his op- 
portunity to intercede for Absalom had come. 
He thought the punishment of the assassin 
had been sufficient, in view of the great prov- 
ocation offered by the victim, and desired to 
see the brilliant young prince in the palace 
once more. He at once formed a plan of pro- 
cedure which displayed the intellectual power 
of the chieftain. He knew a gifted, discreet, 
and attractive woman at Tekoah, a town in 
eTudah, about twelve miles south of Jerusalem, 
and sent for her to advocate his cause before 
his sovereign. She was instructed to assume 
the character of a mourning widow, plead- 
ing for the life of her son. The successful 
interview with David revealed the artful 
plot. 

The woman souirht an audience with the 


2i8 The Court and Cam^ of David. 

monarch, and, prostrating herself in the dust 
at his feet, cried out, "Help, O king ! ” 

"What aileth thee?” inquired David, with 
condescending kindness. 

"I am indeed a widow woman,” she replied, 
"and my husband is dead. And thy hand- 
maid had two sons, and they two strove to- 
gether in the field, and there was none to part 
them ; but the one smote the other, and slew 
him. And behold, the whole family is risen 
against thy handmaid, and they said. Deliver 
him that smote his brother, that we may kill 
him, for the life of his brother whom he slew ; 
and we will destroy the heir also. And so 
they shall quench my coal which is left, and 
shall leave to my husband neither name nor 
remainder upon the earth.” She added that 
she had come to the king to be delivered from 
the destruetion which she feared for herself 
and her son. 

David’s compassion was moved, and he told 
her to return home, while he would give or- 
ders to prevent the evils which she dreaded. 
But the woman seemed to desire a still stronger 
assurance from the king, and added, with great 
solemnity, "My lord, O king, the iniquity be 


Close of David's Military Career. 219 

on me and on my father’s house, and the 
king and his throne be guiltless.” 

"Whosoever saith aught unto thee,” rejoined 
the king, "bring him to me, and he shall not 
touch thee any more.” 

But this did not satisfy her. Immediate 
and decisive action was necessary. She ap- 
pealed to the obligations which David was 
under to that God who had been so full of 
compassion towards him. "I pray thee, let 
the king remember the Lord thy God, that 
thou wouldst not suffer the revengers of blood 
to destroy any more, lest they destroy my 
son.” 

"As the Lord liveth,” replied David, "there 
shall not one hair of thy son hill to the earth” 
— confirming what he had before promised 
with the solemnity of an oath, and thus sat- 
isfying the woman that she might 119 w press 
the ultimate object which she had in view. 

"Let thy handmaid,” said she, "I pray thee, 
speak one word unto my lord the king.” 

" Say on,” was the king’s reply. 

The woman then endeavored to convince 
him that he had reproved himself for the 
want of mercy towards Absalom by promis- 


220 The Court and Camf of David, 

ing to protect her son who had killed his 
brother; and that to deny this mercy any 
longer to his own son was inflicting an injury 
upon the whole nation, whose desire w^as to 
see the oflender restored to favor. 

David now perceiving the drift of the wo- 
man, and suspecting who had sent her to him, 
inquired, "Is not the hand of Joab with thee in 
all this?” 

She acknowledged that it was ; adding, in 
the usual style of Oriental compliment, "My 
lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an 
angel of God, to know all things that are in 
the earth.” 

David was compelled to feel the ap23lica- 
tion of his own pledges to the widovv, as when 
Nathan pleaded for the owner of the ewe lamb, 
— whose case ma}^ have suggested to Joab’s 
mind this similar method of producing con- 
viction. 

The woman of Tekoah won her suit, and 
the general whom she had served approached 
the king with grateful demonstrations of his 
joy, and sincere devotion to his sovereign. 
He then hastened to Geshur, where Absalom 
was, and escorted him to the capital. But 




. Paj^e 220. 



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Close of David's Military Career. 221 

here the gladness of both was suddenly 
checked. David commanded his erring son 
to retire to his own house, and not to appear 
in the presence of his father — thus express- 
ing before all the people his deep abhorrence 
of the crime of Absalom. 

We* are left to conjecture how he passed the 
two years of his banishment from court-life ; 
but we do know that he chafed against the 
restrjiint, and sent for the brave Joab, whose 
influence over the king was evidently greater 
than that of any other man in Israel, to inter- 
cede for him. 

For some reason, no hint of which is given, 
the stern old commander did not notice the 
urgent request. Its repetition was equally 
unsuccessful. This indiflference roused the 
untamed spirit of Absalom, and he deter- 
mined to secure, cost what it might, an inter- 
view with Joab. He applied the torch to a 
field of barley belonging to the general, not 
far from his own residence, laying the golden 
grain in ashes. The smoke of the burning field 
gave the alarm, and the eager questioning of 
the owner was answered by the assurance that 
the returned refugee had kindled the flames. 



222 The Court and Cam^ of David, 

He went immediately and indignantly to 
Absalom to learn the reason for the incendiary 
deed. The prince was ready to answer him : 
"Behold, I sent unto thee, saying. Come hith- 
er, that I may send thee to the king, to say. 
Wherefore am I come from Geshur? It had 
been good for me to have been there still. 
Now, therefore, let me see the king’s face, 
and if there be any iniquity in me, let him 
kill me.” 

Joab, instead of resenting the injury, mag- 
nanimously complied with the request, and 
persuaded David to receive Absalom to court 
again. Once there, his wounded pride, his 
ambition, and his reckless daring urged him 
to stake everything in a game of conspiracy 
against the throne, to secure it for himself. 

A very able and devout writer, we think, 
gives truly the circumstances that favored the 
conspiracy, in the language he puts upon the 
tongue of the tiend who is represented as 
making David's overthrow his special service. 

"David’s treatment of Uriah had given a 
tremendous blow to his reputation. Uriah 
was yet well remembered as the gallant and 
brave soldier who had been most cruellv sac- 


Close of David's Military Career, 223 • 

rificecl ; and the matter was still talked of, 
through all the tribes of Israel, to David’s 
disadvantage. 

"The kingdom had now grown very large, 
and it was impossible for any one man to 
meet the expectations of all. There were 
complaints of neglect, and that justice was 
not punctually and promptly administered. 

"There were still in the land many old ad- 
herents of the house of Saul, men who had 
been officers in his army, or in the state, 
during his administration. Many of these 
had been displaced when David came into 
power, and they and their families were not 
cordial. 

"There were many restless persons, who 
were weary of what they styled monotony. 
These were glad to have a rebellion ; some 
from the mere love of novelty and change ; 
others, a large class, who had nothing to lose, 
and who hoped that a revolution might better 
their condition. 

"David was now growing old; the infirmi- 
ties of age were beginning to come upon him ; 
and many were ready to pay their devotions 
rather to the rising than the setting sun. 


224 Court and Cainf of David. 

"Absalom was tho real heir to the crown, 
and many thought that by being forward in 
asserting his claims, they would ingratiate 
themselves with the new administration. 

"Absalom possessed an engaging person, 
captivating manners, and well understood how 
to render himself prepossessing and popular. 

"And last, but not least, Ahithophel, beiqg 
wholly alienated from David, would throw 
all the weight of his talents and influence 
mto the scale of Absalom.” 

Never was a guilty purpose more deliber- 
ately formed and firmly carried forward to its 
dread accomplishment than Absalom’s. The 
young man’s heart was thoroughly corrupted, 
and dead to filial obligation. The power of 
a saintly mother’s influence and her prayers 
he had never known. He might have broken 
away from even these strongest, tenderest 
restraints of home, but when they have been 
enjoyed they are tho last to yield to the as- 
saults of temptation. 

Every morning he stood b}^ the city-gate 
saluting the strangers who came from the sur- 
rounding country, inquiring from what place 
they were, and their business. After these 


Close of David's Military Career. 225 


conciliatory questions, he asked after their 
private grievances, expressing the deepest 
s^unpathy with those in trouble. Then he 
would add, with deep concern, ”0 that I 
were made judge in the land, that every man 
which hath a suit dr cause might come unto 
me, and I would do him justice!” Some- 
times the admiring Hebrews would return 
these attentions with the highest expressions 
of reverence, which he acknowledged in the 
most cordial manner. Thus he " stole the 
hearts of the men of Israel.” 

What melancholy ruin has been wrought 
by the lips of flattery 1 They beguiled the 
holy dwellers in Eden. No sinful weakness 
of humanity demands more careful and pray- 
erful vigilance than this fondness for the 
notice and admiration of others, particularly 
of those who occupy a high position in 
society. 

Absalom’s plot was at length matured, and 
he was ready to strike a blow that would 
shake the kingdom, and spread paleness on 
the cheeks of its monarch. 

Pie now asked permission of the king to go 
to Hebron, to perform there a religious vow 
15 


226 The Court and Cam^ of David. 

which he had made while in exile in Geshiir, 
if the Lord would bring him back again to 
Jerusalem. The king, not suspecting the 
real object, consented, and bade him go in 
peace. 

Before his departure he despatched messen- 
gers among the tribes, apprising them of the 
crisis in national affairs, and directing them 
to proclaim him king in Hebron when they 
heard the trumpet’s signal blast. Two hun- 
dred attendants, who apparently did not 
understand his real design, escorted the 
prince. 

From Hebron, Absalom sent to Giloh for 
Ahithophel, the master-politician of his time, 
the intelligent, shrewd, and influential coun- 
sellor of the king. He had become alienated 
from David, and was an admirer of the gifted 
conspirator. 

The trumpet’s signal of revolt sounded 
from ancient Hebron, and the response w^as, 
moving thousands on the way to join the 
standard of rebellion. 

A courier dashed into Judah’s capital, and 
hastened to the king. From his pallid lips 
burst the thrilling words, "Treason, my lord I 



Close of DavlcTs Military Career, 227 

O king, treason ! The hearts of the men of 
Israel are after Absalom ! ” 

The terrified monarch and tender father 
immediately decided to flee. He may have 
been opposed by the fearless Joab and his 
brave captains, but the fears of their sover- 
eign, and his unwillingness to fight his own 
sou and subjects, prevailed ; and the order 
to abandon Jerusalem was given : "Arise, 
let us flee ; for we shall not else escape from 
Absalom : make speed to depart, lest he over- 
take us suddenly, and bring evil upon us, and 
smite the city with the edge of the sword.” 
On their replying that they were ready to do 
whatever he should direct, he went forth, and 
all his household and people after him, ex- 
cepting ten of his inferior wives, whom he 
left behind to take charge of the palace. His 
servants passed on, and then his body-guard 
of Cherethites and Pelethites, and six hun- 
dred Gittites from Gath, under the command 
of Ittai. 

But David’s magnanimitj^ would not allow 
him to consent that these strangers, who had 
sought his protection, should be involved in 
his calamity. He expressed his wonder at 



228 The Cou7't and Camf of David. 

the sacrifice they were so ready to make, and 
directed Ittai to return with his followers to 
their own country, adding his parting blessing, 
"Mercy and truth be with thee.” 

Ittai was too generous and brave to comply. 
"As the Lord liveth,” said he, " and as my lord 
the king liveth, surely in what place my lord 
the king shall be, whether in death or life, 
even there also will thy servant be.” Such 
noble, devout language indicates that these 
heroic men of Gath were proselytes from 
paganism ; perhaps through David’s loyalty 
to God while there. 

David ordered littai to keep on and cross 
the brook Kidron, which he did with all his 
men, and the little ones that were with him. 
After him the attendants of the king and the 
people passed over, filling the air with their 
lamentations. David himself came last, to 
see that all was safely and wisely arranged, 
and the sad procession moved on its way 
towards the wilderness. 

Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, with the 
whole body of the Levites, bearing the ark 
of the covenant of the Lord, were among 
those who remained faithful to the king, and 



Close of David's Military Career, 229 

had followed him when he left Jerusalem. 
As Abiathar stood to see the people pass over 
the brook Kidron, they set down the ark, 
and he ascended an emimence, gazing on the 
seeue until the last of the throng had left the 
city. He could not think of leaving behind 
the symbol of Jehovah’s presence. But the 
king would not peril the hallowed ark for any 
possible benefit to him in his flight, and said 
to Zadok, — 

"Carry back the ark of God into the city. 
If I shall find favor in the eyes of the Lord, 
he will bring me again, and show me both it 
and his habitation. But if he thus say, I 
have no delight in thee; behold, here am I; 
let him do to me as seemeth good unto him.” 

He added> "Art thou not a seer?” that is, 
a prophet and priest of God, who should re- 
main and instruct the people. " Return into 
the city in peace, and your two sons with you, 
Ahimaaz thy son, and Jonathan the son of 
Abiathar. See, I will tarry in the plain of 
the wilderness until there come word from 
you to certify me.” 

Zadok and Abiathar carried back the ark to 
Jerusalem. 


230 The Court and Camf of David. 

David and those who followed him now 
advanced farther on their way, and began to 
ascend Mount Olivet, whose brow Jesus, ages 
afterwards, baptized with his tears. He "wept 
as he went up, and had his head covered,” 
as was customary with mourners, to show the 
depth of his sorrow, and for the same rea- 
son "he went barefoot; and all the people 
that was with him covered every man his 
head, and they went up, weeping as they 
went up.” 

To augment his affliction, David was told 
of the defection of his counsellor Ahithophel, 
and that he was among the conspirators with 
Absalom. He knew the sagacity as well as' 
the influence of this formidable man, and feel- 
ing that he must rely on the Almighty alone 
for protection against such a foe, he ex- 
claimed, " O Lord, I pray thee, turn the 
counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.” 

On Olivet David bowed in prayer, and 
lifted to God the praise of his grieving heart. 
His supplication for divine mercy was an- 
swered immediately. Hushai the Archite 
a friend true to the last, came to him with 
rent robes ‘and earth upon his head ; a faith- 



Close of David's Military Career. 231 

ful, devoted subject, mourning over the de- 
thronement of his king. David saw in him 
the man he needed at the capital, and begged 
him to return, and defeat the crafty influence 
of Ahithophel, offering his services to Absalom 
for this very purpose. He went to Jerusalem. 

Soon the prince, with his fine army, ap- 
proached the city. It was a grand spectacle. 
The banners of the various tribes floated in 
the breeze, and acclamations filled the heav- 
ens above the handsome and exulting leader 
of the host. 

The massive gates of Jerusalem swung on 
their hinges, and the magnificent cavalcade 
entered into the deserted metropolis, enthron- 
ins: the successful traitor. 

David continued his flight, and while de- 
scending the summit, was met by Ziba, the 
servant of Mephibosheth, with a present of 
refreshments for the fugitive king. With 
unutterable meanness he replied to the inquiry 
of David where his master was, that he was 
watching the tide of revolution, ready to join 
Absalom in his usurpation. The treacherous 
Ziba was believed, and the possessions of 
Mephibosheth promised him. 



232 The Court and Cam^ of David, 

Although manliness is not religion, true 
godliness is manly and sincere ; and the 
living Christian alone is secure from the easy, 
gradual descent to the basest selfishness. 

David’s sad march had reached Bahurim, 
a small town in the tribe of Benjamin, a 
mile or two from Jerusalem, when he was 
met by Shimei, a son of Gera. This man 
belonged to a class found in every communi- 
ty, who have no fixed principles of right 
living. He was vain and selfish. Supposing 
that David was overthrown, and Absalom the 
coming man,” he sought the distinction of 
an early and public change in his loyalt}^ In 
his self-conceit and contempt of the king, he 
threw stones at him and his escort, tauntingly 
exclaiming, — 

"Come out, come out, thou bloody man, 
and thou man of Belial ; the Lord hath re- 
turned upon thee all the blood of the house 
of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned; 
and the Lord hath delivered the kingdom into 
the hands of Absalom, thy son; and, behold, 
thou art taken in thy mischief, because thou 
art a bloody man.” 

Abishai, David’s nephew, could not brook 


Close of Davtdls Military Career, 233 

the insult. "Why should this dead dog,” 
he exclaimed, "curse my lord the king? Let 
me go over, I pray thee, and take ofi* his head.” 

But David rebuked him. "Behold,” said 
he, "my son, which came forth of my bowels, 
seeketh my life : how much more now may 
this Benjamite do it? Let- him alone, and let 
him curse ; for the Lord hath bidden him. It 
may be that the Lord will look 011 mine afflic- 
tion, and that the Lord will requite me good 
for his cursing this day.” 

What a deep sense of the divine discipline, 
and sublime command over himself and his 
attendants, was shown by David in this con- 
duct towards his bitter accuser ! He was a 
follower of Him whom, "not having seen, he 
loved,” and who bore uncomplainingly the 
reviling of his foes. 

At Jerusalem momentous scenes were pass- 
ing. Hushai had appeared before Absalom, 
who was suspicious of one who had been so 
true and devoted to David, and inquired, "Is 
this thy kindness to thy friend ? Why went- 
est thou not with thy friend? ” 

Hushai replied, evasively, that whosoever 
the Lord and the people chose for the reign- 


234 Court and Cam^ of David. 

ing sovereign he should serve, and preferred 
now to be in the presence of David’s son. 

Soon after, Absalom called in his counsel- 
lor, Ahithophel. What shall be the next move 
in the grand conspiracy, was the question of 
high debate. The unscrupulous Ahithophel 
suggested, that, to convince the people the die 
was cast, and no reconciliation between him 
and his father was possible, Absalom openly 
appropriate the wives left by his father in 
the palace. This was done by spreading the 
royal tent on the roof, and conducting the 
women into it — an unblushing but ready 
compliance with the advice of a thoroughly 
depraved heart. 

It seemed strange that David should have 
trusted Ahithophel so long. But he proved 
himself wise in council, and concealed his own 
real character. 

Another council followed, in which the 
political forecast of this dangerous man ap- 
peared. He urged the most prompt and 
decisive measures to complete the revolution. 
Kightly inferring that David was depressed 
by the unnatural rebellion of Absalom, al- 
ready alarmingly successful, he proposed that 



j 


Close of David's Military Career, 235 

bis new sovereign permit him to lead twelve 
thousand picked men against the sorrowful 
and weary exile, and crush the last vestige 
of opposing power by slaying him. 

The prince, with his nobles, applauded the 
plan, — the last step in the march of bloody 
ambition, — and the order to march was on 
his lips, when he thought of the gifted and 
heroic Hushai, and sent for him. It was now 
Hushai’s opportunity to serve David. He rev- 
erently saluted Absalom, and increased, by his 
whole bearing, the confidence already gained. 

"The counsel that Ahithophel hath given,” 
said he, "is not good at this time.” 

He then went on to say that Absalom well 
knew that his father and those who were with 
him were men of tried valor and mighty in 
battle ; that they were enraged and desperate, 
as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field ; 
that it would be difficult for Ahithophel to 
find David, who was too wary to lodge with 
his men in their tents, and was probably con- 
cealed in some secure retreat ; and that the 
pursuers after the king, meeting, as they 
doubtless would, with some discomfiture at 
the first attack, the slaughter of such would 



236 The Court and Camf of David. 

strike terror into the rest. Thus he added, 
"He also that is valiant, whose heart is as the 
heart of a lion, shall utterly melt ; for all 
Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty 
man, and they which be with him are valiant 
men. 

” I counsel that all Israel be generally 
gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Beer- 
sheba, as the sand that is by the sea for mul- 
titude, and that thou go to battle in thine own 
person. So shall we come upon him in some 
place where he shall be found, and we will 
light upon him as the dew falleth on the 
ground ; and of him and of all the men that 
are with him there shall not be left so much 
as one.” He further said, that should the 
king take refuge in a fortified city, Absalom’s 
host could carry away the very stones of the 
walls. 

The advice was suited to please the ambi- 
tious prince and his chief men, and was at once 
accepted. The reason is recorded : "For the 
Lord had appointed to defeat the good coun- 
sel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord 
might bring evil upon Absalom.” 

How far Hushai diverged from the divine 



Close of Davids Military Career. 237 

rule of truthfulness, we have no intimation. 
He had to answer to his Judge, who overruled 
his conduct to accomplish his gracious de- 
signs. 

Hushai lost no time in ^cttins: the news to 
Zadok and Abiathar, the loyal priests, and 
seemed, after all, to fear that Absalom would 
change his mind ; for he was urgent to have 
messengers despatched with haste to David, 
telling him not to stay in the plains of the 
wilderness that night, but cross the Jordan, 
and foil any attempt to overtake him. The 
true-hearted sons of the priests, Jonathan and 
Ahimaaz, feeling unsafe in the cit3% were 
concealed at En-rogel,’ also called the Fuller’s 
Fountain, on the south-east side of «Teru- 
salem, waiting for any command from the 
capital. 

A maid-servant, some heroic young spirit, 
stole from her home, and cautiously picked 
her way to the hiding-place of Jonathan and 
Ahimaaz, and bore the tidings to them. They 
went forth to find the king. A lad saw th6ni 
on their way, and carried the news to Jerusa- 
lem. Pursuit was ordered by Absalom, and 
fleet couriers dashed through the city gates. 



238 The Court and Camf of David. 

The spies somehow suspected the result of 
the glimpse the boy had of them, and asked 
for concealment in a house at Bahuriin. 

The loyal woman there, directed them to a 
walled fountain, in which they found a foot- 
hold, and over whose mouth she spread a cloth 
covered with meal drying in the sun. 

A few moments later the pursuers ap- 
peared in view, reined up, and inquired for 
the messengers. She pointed over the brook 
near, and said she saw them going in that 
direction. The rebels were soon out of sight, 
and the spies again on the road to David’s 
camp. 

The caravan at once Was in motion, and did 
not pause in the hurried march until safely over 
the river. How they crossed we do not know ; 
probably on foot at a ford there. The citizens 
of Mahanaim, which belonged to the Levites, 
situated on the stream Jabbok, which flows into 
the Jordan north of the Dead Sea, welcomed 
the tired fugitives, bringing forth all needed 
supplies. Good Barzillai, the Gileadite, fur- 
nished beds and the utensils of housekeeping, 
with abundance of food. 

While David and his attendants were rest- 



Close of David's Military Career, 239 

ing here, Ahithophel closed his guilty ca- 
reer. 

When he found that his power over Ab- 
salom was gone, and Hushai, in whom he had 
no confidence, had supplanted him, his gray 
hairs shook with the storm of emotions that 
swept over his soul. He turned away despair- 
ingly, and hurried to his own house, where, 
having arranged his atfairs, he soon swung in 
the air, a distorted suicide. 

Suicide was declared by an eminent jurist 
to be confession of guilt by a criminal. If 
reason be not dethroned, or at least shaken, 
the fearful act always proclaims a soul bur- 
dened with some dark weight of sin. 

God has made life dear, and death dreadful, 
unless it come to the pilgrim on his heaven- 
ward way. 

How desperate the state of a sinner who 
strikes down his own existence, and rushes 
forth upon eternal scenes ! Yet no man un- 
renewed can say what he may not do if left 
of God to the adversary of all good. 

Absalom put the command of his splendid 
army under Amasa, the son of Abigail, his 
aunt, who married Jether, an Ishmaelite. 


240 The Court and Camf of David, 

The silence respecting this brave man, until 
he appears thus conspicuously in the rebel- 
lion, gives us a glimpse of family history. 
The sons of another sister of David, Zeruiah, 
a superior woman, were promoted by him. 
Joab, Asahel, and Abishai were favorites of 
the king. But Amasa’s father was a descend- 
ant of the outlaw Ishmael, and was therefore 
neglected. The effect upon him naturally 
soured his feelings towards his sovereign, and 
he gladly linked his fortunes with the more 
artful, attentive Absalom. 

Amasa led his exultant battalions with fly- 
ing ensigns from the walls of Jerusalem, in 
pursuit of David. The usurper had learned 
where his father was, and directed his general 
to march on Mahanaim. Upon his approach 
the distressed monarch saw that hopeless 
flight or a battle was inevitable. There lay 
in full view from the walls of the city the 
long lines of Absalom’s mighty host, while 
around him were brave men impatient to meet 
the enemy. But in the king's heart was a 
third party, whose decision might settle the 
question, of combat or surrender by flight, — 
it was a father's yearning love. 


Close of David's Military Career. 241 

The officers urged a brave defence, and the 
self-command of the king and conqueror rose 
to the great occasion. He ascertained the 
number of effective men on whom he could 
rely, and set captains of thousands and cap- 
tains of hundreds over them, dividing the 
whole into three parts. At the head of the 
first division he placed his able general Joab. 
Abishai, the brother of Joab, — both of whom, 
it will be recollected, were nephews of the 
king, — commanded the second ; while the 
third was under Ittai the Gittite. 

David resolved to take the field in person, 
but his devoted, heroic leaders sternly expos- 
tulated with him. They said, ”Thou shalt 
not go forth, for if we flee away, they will 
not care for us ; neither if half of us die, 
will they care for us; but now thou art 
worth ten thousand of us ; therefore now it 
is better that thou succor us out of the city.” 

David yielded to the noble appeal, and took 
a position by the gate of Mahanaim, where he 
could have a good view of his troops as they 
marched past him. He encouraged the he- 
roes, who loved their ruler and were ready to 
die for him, with his old familiar words of 
16 



242 The Court and Cam^ of David. . 

cheer when on the eve of battle. But he had 
another object nearer than their success to his 
heart; it was the life of his wayward Ab- 
salom. And when Joab, with majestic bear- 
ing and compressed lips, approached, he said 
tearfully, "Deal gently for my sake with the 
young man.” In the ear of the scarcely less 
commanding form of Abishai he repeated the 
tender caution. Then Ittai, the converted 
Gittite, the faithful ally, bowed his head to 
hear the same words of parental solicitude. 

At length the army swept by, and the dim 
vision of the king, for whom it went to the 
conflict, followed the receding ranks ; Ab- 
salom, with all his guilt, ’was dearer to him 
than his throne. 

According to Joab's plan of battle, the two 
armies met on the borders of the forest of 
Ephraim. This gave him, with his greatly 
inferior force, an advantage over his foe ; for 
if he could hem him in and surround him, his 
destruction w^ould be easy. The advance was 
sounded, and the contest opened fiercely. 
Joab stood like Gibraltar amid the waves, his 
clear eye surveying the closing ranks, while 
above the braying of trumpets and clash of 


Close of David's Military Career, 243 

Urms rose the shout of Absalom cheerins: on 
his rebel legions. The burnished blades drank 
blood, and the groans of the dying filled the air. 
At length the lines of Absalom’s army began to 
yield to the fiery valor of the king’s warriors. 
They were forced back into the forest, and 
cut down like grain before the sickle. 

Absalom saw that the day was lost, and 
turned the head of his fleet mule into the 
woods. But, as he was galloping under an 
oak, his hair caught on a knotty branch, and, 
stripping him from his mule, left him dan- 
gling in mid-heaven. 

A man, who saw Absalom hanging from the 
bough of the oak, ran and told Joab of it. 
" Why didst thou not smite him to the 
ground ? ” he exclaimed ; ” and I would have 
given thee ten shekels of silver and a girdle.” 

" Though I should receive a thousand shek- 
els of silver in my hand,” was the reply, 
"yet would I not put forth my hand against 
the king’s son ; for, in our hearing, the king 
charged thee, and Abishai, and Ittai, saying. 
Beware that none touch the young man Ab- 
salom.” To this he added, that had he killed 
Absalom, he would himself have been ex- 



244 Court and Cam^ of David, 

posed to lose his life ; for the king would 
soon have heard of the deed, and even Joah 
would have been ready to bring the offender 
to punishment. 

Joab’s answer was short and hurried — 
may not tarrj^ with thee.” 

Absalom strove to reach the limb and ex- 
tricate himself, but in vain. Suddenly, upon 
his ear fell the sound of Joab’s approach. 
What a fearful moment to the helpless traitor ! 
He knew the stern Joab, and expected to die. 
We doubt not that the victorious chief paused 
a moment, while the thrilling words, ” Deal 
gently with the young man for my sake,” 
rang back in memory. Then the crime of the 
captive and the tremendous crisis to the 
country overcame his hesitation. He drew 
a javelin, and hurled it into that manly form, 
and again the second time, and still a third. 

To make sure work with the conspirator, 
he commanded ten men who bore his armor, 
to pierce him with their weapons. The bleed- 
ing body, just before so princely, and swayed 
by martial enthusiasm, was then thrown into 
a pit, and covered with stones. Such was 
the terrible close of a rebellious son’s career. 




Absalom slain. 244. 


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Close of David's Military Career. 245 

The example stands in the far past, a beacon 
of solemn warning to the end of time against 
the sin so thankless and so hateful to God — 
contempt of parental authority and affection. 

Joab felt that to ” make treason odious ” 
and his sovereign’s throne secure, this reckless 
leader of the revolt must die. 

The struggle was over, and twenty thou- 
sand of Absalom’s troops strewed the red 
field. The rest fled to their homes. Joab 
blew the trumpet to recall the pursuing troops. 
But who shall carry the tidings of victory to 
David, which will also announce the death of 
his boy? Ahimaaz volunteered; but he had 
been a bearer of more grateful despatches to 
the king, and Joab declined to let him con- 
vey news unwelcome to his sovereign and 
prejudicial to himself. Cushi was despatched, 
and while he hurried away, Ahimaaz again 
asked permission to go, which was granted, 
lie outran Cushi, and was the first to reach 
the suburbs of Mahanaim. 

David was waiting between the gates for 
some messenger or fugitive from the scene 
of conflict. A watchman, from the roof 
over the gate, shouted to the king, that he 



246 The Court and Cam^ of David, 

saw a mail in the distance running towards 
the city. David replied, "If he be, alone, 
there is tidings in his mouth ; ” in other words, 
in that case he was undoubtedly a courier 
from the army. 

Soon Cushi came in sight, and the watch- 
man told David that another man was running 
alone across the plain. The king said, "He 
also bringeth tidings.” 

When Ahimaaz was recognized, David 
added, "He is a good man, and bringeth 
good tidings.” Approaching the gate, he 
cried out, " All is well.” In another moment 
he was ushered into the royal presence, and 
bowing to the ground, he exclaimed, "Blessed 
be the Lord thy God, which hath delivered up 
the men that lifted up their hand against my 
lord the king.” 

David asked again, "Is the young man Ab- 
salom safe?” 

Ahimaaz evaded the question : " When Joab 
sent the king’s servant and me, thy servant, 
I saw a great tumult, but I knew not what it 
was.” 

"Turn aside,” answered the king, "and 
stand here.” 


Close of David’s Military Career, 247 

Ciishi came. "Tidings,” said he, "my lord 
the king : for the Lord hath avenged thee 
this day of all them that rose up against 
thee.” 

"/5 the young man Absalom safef^^ burst 
from the tremulous lips of David. 

Cushi’s answer was a model of tact and 
delicacy in the announcement of heavy tid- 
ings : " The enemies of my lord the king, and 
all that rise up against thee to do thee hurt, 
be as that young man is.” 

The monarch needed no further details ; he 
knew that Absalom was dead. The effect of 
this assurance is recorded in words of unri- 
valled beauty and pathos ; " And the king 
was much moved, and went up to the chamber 
over the gate and wept ; and as he went, thus 
he said, O my son Absalom ! my son, my 
son Absalom ! would God I had died for thee, 
O Absalom, my son, my son ! ” 

A little later and the bannered host of vic- 
tory sent their glad shouts over the city, and 
the echoes of their march through the city 
gates. Suddenly the voices of joy die away, 
the banners droop, and gloom spreads over 
the faces of the heroic men. The overwhelm- 


248 The Court a 7 id Cam-p of David. 

iiig grief of the king has been told along the 
lines, and his lamentation is heard, sounding 
from the room where he weeps. With cov- 
ered face he sobbed, "O my son Absalom! 
O Absalom, my son, my son ! ” 

The troops entered the city "as people being 
ashamed steal away when they flee in battle.” 

Joab was indignant, in view of the great 
interests at stake, and the signal deliverance 
the Lord had wrought. He complained of 
the king’s unreasonable indifierence to every- 
thing but Absalom’s fate, and added, "Now, 
therefore, arise, go forth, and speak comfort- 
ably unto thy servants : for I swear by the 
Lord, if thou go not forth there will not tarry 
one with thee this night ; and that will be 
worse unto thee than all the evil that befell 
thee from thy youth until now.” 

David was not ignorant of the value of" 
Joab’s services to him, nor of his great popu- 
larity with the army ; nor was he indifferent 
in regard to his crown and kingdom. He did 
not venture, therefore, to resent the reproof 
of Joab, nor touch the slayer of Absalom. 
But he took his seat in the gate of the city, 
where justice was administered, that the peo- 


Close of Davids Military Career. 249 

pie might once more see their king, and offer 
him their congratulations. 

With the spreading news of the victory 
among the tribes came a reaction in the public 
feeling. David’s heroism and unequalled sov- 
ereignty, and his kindness to Absalom, in 
contrast with the traitor’s imfilial conduct, 
subdued all hearts in the calm moments of 
reflection, and they desired to see him again 
upon the throne. He improved the changed 
condition of things, and sent the following 
message to the men of Judah at Jerusalem, 
who were apparently the most reluctant to 
move for the restoration : " Ye are my breth- 
ren, ye are my bones and my flesh; wherefore 
are ye the last to bring back the king?” 

He sent word to Zadok and Abiathar to 
offer Amasa, if he would return to his loyalty, 
fhe post of honor occupied by Joab. The 
reasons for this are clear; Joab had killed 
Absalom, while Amasa had been neglected. 
The appeals of the exiled king "bowed the 
heart of all the men of Judah, even as the 
heart of one man.” They invited him to re- 
turn to his capital and throne. When the 
royal procession reached the Jordan, the men 


250 The Court and Camf of David, 

of Judah, who had assembled for the purpose, 
were on the opposite bank to conduct him 
over the river. 

The stream was soon covered with the rafts 
which bore the procession across the waters. 
At this moment the time-serving Shimei ap- 
peared, with a thousand men of his tribe, 
confessing his- former abuse, to David, and 
begging for pardon ; reminding his king that 
he was the first of the tribes of Israel to con- 
gratulate his victorious monarch. Abishai’s 
nobler heart glowed with resentment at such 
hypocrisy, and demanded Shimei’s death. 

David was too magnanimous to seek this 
poor revenge, and reproved both him and his 
brother Joab, in the following language : 
"What have I to do with you, ye sons of 
Zeruiah, that ye should this day be adver- 
saries unto me ? Shall there any man be put 
to death this day in Israel ? for do not I know 
that I am this day king over Israel?” Then 
turning to Shimei, and calling upon God to 
witness the sincerity of the declaration, he 
pronounced his pardon by saying, "Thou shalt 
not die.” 

Ziba, the slanderer of Mephibosheth, with 


Close of David's Military Career, 251 

his fifteen sons and twenty servants, followed 
in a similar suit for the king’s clemency. 
Next came the venerable and excellent Bar- 
zillai, who declined the invitation to become a 
member of the royal household at Jerusalem, 
preferring to die in his own city, and be 
buried by his father and mother. He recom- 
mended to David, Chimham, probably his 
son, whom David gladly took with him. 

At Gilgal, people from other tribes joined 
the cavalcade. After some complaint from 
the men of Israel against Judah for the 
prominent part they had taken in the king’s 
return, to which the latter replied with con- 
ciliatory allusions to David’s relation to them, 
the disafiection of Israel was very great. The 
restless, angry elements had a waiting leader. 
Sheba, the sou of Bichri, a Benjamite, blew 
the trumpet of revolt, and cried out, "We 
have no part in David, neither have we in- 
heritance in the son of Jesse; every man to 
his tents, O Israel.” 

Israel followed Sheba, and David returned 
with Judah, to Jerusalem. He was met by 
the injured Mephibosheth, and an explanation 
of his course, as misrepresented by his ser- 


252 The Court and Camf of David. 

vant, was made, and he was received into the 
favor of the king, who restored to him, in 
part, his possessions. 

This providential vindication of Jonathan’s 
son is another illustration of the impossibility 
of ultimate success in wrong-doing. Absa- 
lom, Shimei, and Ziba bitterly learned the 
truth of God’s declaration, "Be sure your sins 
will find you out.” 

As soon as David was enthroned in his 
capital, he removed to the seclusion of widow- 
hood the wives appropriated by Absalom. 

He then entered, with all his regal and 
military power, upon the work of subduing 
Sheba’s rebellion. He ordered Amasa to as- 
semble Judah’s men of war within three days 
at the capital. His delay excited David’s 
fears that Sheba might rival Absalom ; and 
he sent Abishai with Joab’s old heroes, the 
Cherethites and Pelethites, and all the men of 
war within the city, to find and join Amasa. 
They did so at the rock Gibeon. Joab was, 
with the army, true to David, and watching 
the course of events. The presence of Am- 
asa, calling out his own brave veterans, w\as 
too much for Joab’s wounded spirit, and, tak- 


f 


Close of David's Military Career, 253 

ing the new commander by his beard with 
his right hand, as if to kiss him, with his left 
he drew his sword and slew him. Joab then* 
took his former place at the head of the army, 
and, with Abishai under him, went in pursuit 
of Sheba. 

The bloody corpse attracted the attention 
of the passing men, when a friend of Joab 
shouted, "lie that favoreth Joab, and he that 
is for David, let him go after Joab!” To 
turn the attention of the gathering and hor- 
ror-smitten crowd from the slain Ishmaelite to 
their former general, a soldier removed the 
body from the highway and covered it with 
cloth. 

Sheba had gone through the tribes stirring 
up rebellion, and was overtaken by Joab at 
Beth-maachah, a city in Northern Palestine. 
The town was besieged. A distinguished, in- 
telligent woman called to Joab to know why 
he sought to destroy the venerable and worthy 
city. He replied he only ^vanted the rebel 
Sheba. 

The woman answered him that she would 
have his head thrown over the wall. She 
went to the authorities of the city, and told 


254 Court and Cam^ of David. 

them the price of their deliverance from the 
beleaguering army. Soon after she saw the 
* gory head passing over the city wall. Joab 
withdrew his troops and returned to Jeru- 
, Salem. 

David was once more established in his 
kingdom. Joab was at the head of the army ; 
Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and Pele- 
thites ; Adoram was over tlie tribute ; Jehosh- 
aphat, the son of Ahilud, w\as recorder; 
Sheva was scribe ; Zadok and Abiathar were 
the priests, and Ira the Jairite was a chief 
ruler. 

God had given to Israel and to the w'orld 
the highest testimony to the truth of his own 
declaration, that, while he was erring, David 
was still a man after his own heart, illustrat- 
ing that other truth of his Word, that single 
acts do not always represent character. A 
gale may sweep the surface of the waters 
against the tide ; it is the strong and steady 
under-current that reveals the direction and 
destination of the stream. 

The last wars of David mentioned in the 
Bible were with his old enemies, the Philis- 
tines. Some distinguished expositors think 




Beheading of Sheha. Page 254. 





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Close of David's Military Career, 255 

they belong to an earlier period of his reign, 
and are recorded after the narrative of his 
fall, to make the history of his sin and the 
punishments which followed more connected. 
Two of the reasons assigned for this view are, 
that the king had eflfectually subdued those 
pagans, and that his age was too far ad- 
vanced for martial deeds. 

On the other hand, it was quite natural that 
his foes should take advantage of this very 
thing, encouraged by the w’eakening effect of 
the civil wars upon the army, in contrast with 
their own, led by its fresh and mighty cham- 
pions. 

The Philistines appeared on some of their 
former battle-fields, and fought with great gal- 
lantry. For the struggle w^ent on until David 
"waxed faint” — his strength began to fail 
him. At this critical moment, Ishbi-benob, an 
armed giant, advanced upon the weary mon- 
arch. The valiant Abishai was near, and, see- 
ing his sovereign’s danger, rushed between 
him and the champion, and smote down the 
Philistine. The body-guard of David gath- 
ered around him, and declared that he should 
not again lead the troops into battle, assign- 


256 The Court and Camf of David. 


ing, ill poetical language, their reason, — "that 
thou ■quench not the light of Israel.” The 
loyal warriors trembled before the peril their 
noble and venerable king had just passed; 
they seemed to stand under the shadow of the 
awful eclipse of the nation’s glory his death 
would have made. 

Not long after this engagement, there was 
another at Gob, near Gezer, in which Sib- 
bechai, one of David’s "valiant men,” who is 
particularly mentioned, slew Saph, or Sippai, 
another giant, and brother of Ishbi-benob. 
Subsequently there was at this place a second 
battle, and Elhanan, a Bethlehemitc, also a 
distinguished warrior, killed a brother of 
Goliath. 

Still later, there was a fight at Gath. Jon- 
athan, David's nephew, added fresh laurels to 
those he had already won, by killing a giant 
whose hands had six fingers each, and his feet 
the same number of toes. Like Goliath, who 
fell before the son of Jesse, he "defied Is- 
rael.” Thus David’s wars with the Philistines 
began by the slaughter of a champion who 
poured contempt upon the God of Israel, and 
ended with the death of a similar haughty and 


Close of David* s Military Career, 257 

insulting pagan at the hand of a near relative 
and brave officer in his vast army. 

We have in the sacred annals of royal war- 
fare David’s roll of honor, — a list of his 
principal heroes, and their gallant exploits. 
Some of the latter have already been noticed. 

The brief record is exceedingly suggestive, 
indicating, by the mere glimpses of brave 
achievements it affords, the rare material of 
which his splendid army was made, and the 
many deeds of unsurpassed valor, which have 
no history for mortal vision. 

It is no marvel that almost uninterrupted 
success attended the campaigns of this Na- 
poleon in genius, and AYashington in re- 
ligious convictions, of the period in which 
conquered and reigned David the son of 
Jesse. AV^e do not forget the special fiivor 
of Israel’s God, without which, like the great 
captain and emperor of France, he would 
have been at last a brilliant failure, instead of 
leaving the Hebrew commonwealth as the 
American hero, and its first president, left 
a Eepublic, in the enjoyment of peace and 
unexampled prosperity. 

The lieutenant general of David’s army, 

17 



258 The Court and Camf of David, 

Joab, was a remarkable man. For forty 
years he was at the head of the army, and 
never sustained a defeat. Every way he was 
superior to the unprincipled and ambitious 
Abner. His figure was compact, soldierly, 
capable of great endurance, and commanding. 
His genius, in any age, combined with his 
personal presence, would have given him 
a high, if not the highest, place among mili- 
tary chieftains. Whatever the true character 
of this conqueror before God, he was a splen- 
did general. Cool, sagacious, and fearless, 
he was never unbalanced by the most sudden 
surprises, nor foiled by the cunning of , an 
adversary. David showed unbounded confi- 
dence in his ability and loyalty. 

We add the catalogue of David’s leading 
officers and heroes, from the sacred roll : — 

" These also are the chief of the mighty men 
whom David had, who strengthened them- 
selves with him in his kingdom, and with all 
Israel, to make . him king according to the 
word of the Lord concerning Israel. And 
this is the number of the mighty men whom 
David had; Jashobeam a Hachmonite, the 
chief of the captains : he lifted up his spear 



Close of David's Military Career. , 259 

against three hundred slain by him at one 
time. And after him was Eleazar the son of 
Dodo the Ahohite, who was one of the three' 
mighties. He was with David at Pas-dammim, 
and there the Philistines were gathered to- 
gether to battle, where was a parcel of 
ground full of barley ; and the people fled 
from before the Philistines. And they set 
themselves in the midst of that parcel, and 
delivered it, and slew the Philistines ; and 
the Lord saved them by a great dleiver- 
ance. 

" Now three of the thirty captains went down 
to the rock to David, into the cave of Adul- 
1am ; and the host of the Philistines encamped 
in the valley of Pephaim. And David was 
then in the hold, and the Philistines’ garrison 
was then at Bethlehem. And David longed 
and said, O that one would give me drink 
of the water of the well of Bethlehem, that is 
at the gate ! And the three brake through 
the host of the Philistines, and drew water out 
of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, 
and took it, and brought it to David ; but Da- 
vid would not drink of it, but poured it out 
to the Lord, and said. My God forbid it me 



26 o ^ The Court and Camf of David. 

that I should do this thing: shall I drink the 
blood of these men that have put their lives 
in jeopardy? for with the jeopardy of their 
lives they brought it. Therefore he would 
not drink it. These things did these three 
mightiest. 

”And Abishai the brother of Joab, he was 
chief of the three : for lifting up his spear 
against three hundred, he slew them, and had 
a name among the three. Of the three, he 
was more honorable than the two ; for he 
was their captain ; howbeit he attained not 
unto the first three. Benaiah the son of Je- 
hoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, 
who had done many acts ; he slew two lion- 
like men of Moab ; also he w^ent down and 
slew a lion in a pit in a snowy day. And he 
slew an Egyptian, a man of great stature, five 
cubits high ; and in the Egyptian’s hand was a 
spear like a weaver’s beam ; and he went down 
to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out 
of the Egyptian’s hand, and slew him with his 
own spear. These things did Benaiah the son 
of Jehoiada, and had the name among the 
three mighties. Behold, he was honorable 
among the thirty, but attained not to the 


Close of David’s Military Career. 261 

first three ; and David set him over his 
guard. 

Also the valiant men of the armies were 
Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan the son 
of Dodo of Bethlehem, Shammoth the Haro- 
rite, Helez the Pelonite, Ira the son of Ikkesh 
the Tekoite, Abi-ezer the Antothite, Sibbeeai 
the Hiishathite, Ilai the Ahohite, Maharai the 
Netophathite, Heled the son of Baanah the 
Netophathite, Ithai the son of Ribai of Gibeah, 
that pertained to the children of Benjamin, 
Benaiah the Pirathonite, Hurai of the brooks 
of Gaash, Abiel the Arbathite, Azmaveth the 
Baharumite, Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons 
of Hashem the Gizonite, Jonathan the son of 
Shage the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sacar 
the Hararite, Eliphal the son of Ur, Hepher 
the Mecherathite, Ahijah the Pelonite, Hezro 
the Carmelite, Naarai the son of Ezbai, Joel 
the brother of Nathan, Mibhar the son of 
Haggeri, Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the 
Berothite, the armor-bearer of Joab the son 
of Zeruiah, Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, 
Uriah the Hittite, Zabad the son of Ahlai, 
Adina the son of Shiza the Reubenite, a cap- 
tain of the Reubenites, and thirty with him. 



262 The Court and Camf of David, 

Hanan the son of Maachah, and Joshaphat the 
Mithnite, Uzzia the Ashterathite, Shama and 
Jehiel the sons of Hothan the Aroerite, Jedi- 
ael the son of Shimri, and Joha, his brother, 
the Tizite, Eliel the Mehavite, and Jeribai, 
and Joshaviah, the sons of Elnaam, and Ith- 
mah the Moabite, Eliel, and Obed, and Jasiel 
the Mesobaite. 

"Now these are they that came to David to 
Ziklag, while he yet kept himself close be- 
cause of Saul the son of Kish : and they were 
among the mighty men, helpers of the war. 
They, were armed with bows, and could use 
both the right hand and the left in hurling 
stones, and shooting arrows out of a bow, 
even of Saul’s brethren of Benjamin. The 
chief was Ahiezer, then Joash, the sons of 
Shemaah the Gibeathite ; and Jeziel, and 
Pelet, the sons of Azmaveth ; and Berachah, 
and Jehu the Antothite, and Ismaiah the Gib- 
eonite, a mighty man among the thirty, and 
over the thirty; and Jeremiah, and Jahaziel, 
and Johanan, and Josabad the Gederathite, 
Eluzai, and Jerimoth, and Bealiah, and Shem- 
ariah, and Shephatiah the Haruphite, Elkanah, 
and Jesiah, and Azareel, and Joezer, and 


Close of Davidls Military Career, 263 

Jashobeam, the Korhites, and Joelah, and 
Zebadiah, the sons of Jerohani of Qedor, 
and of the Gadites there separated them- 
selves unto David into the hold to the wilder- 
ness men of might, and men of war fit for 
the battle, that could handle shield and buck- 
ler, whose faces were like the faces of lions, 
and were as swift as the roes upon the moun- 
tains ; Ezer the first, Obadiah the second, 
Eliab the third, Mishmaunah the fourth, 
Jeremiah the fifth, Attai the sixth, Eliol the 
seventh, Johanan the eighth, Elzabad the 
ninth, Jeremiah the tenth, Machbanai the 
eleventh. There were of the sons, of Gad, 
captains of the host ; one of the least was 
over a hundred, and the greatest over a 
thousand.” 

How like "a dream when one awaketh,” 
seems to us, all the '' pomp and circumstance ” 
of those ancient wars ! 

What for ages has it all been to the brave 
men who fought and fell, or returned from 
battle to die at home? 

And yet their work was great in the world’s 
long history. 

Men die, and not only do "principles live,” 



264 The Court and Cam^ of David, 

but Christ lives and reigns, and to his univer- 
sal dominion all revolutions and events ever 
tend. The shedding of his blood was a dec- 
laration of war by the " powers of darkness ” 
unknown before ; and the battle will rage 
until they are driven from the field by the 
victorious Immanuel. 




art Jaurtti 


DAVID’S MUSIC AND POETRY OP COURT AND CAMP. 


CHAPTER I. 

THE POETRY AND MUSIC OF THE HEBREWS WHEN 
DAVID WAS CROWNED KING OF ISRAEL. 

OW wonderful is the power of po- 
etry and music ! The child feels it 
when the song is breathed over the 
cradle ; youth is gladdened, sad- 
dened, and soothed by the mysterious charm ; 
and old age finds in the measures of poetry and 
the voice of melody, its sweetest pleasures. 

That heart is debased, or hard beyond all 
softening influences, which is no longer moved 
by the inspiration of the true poet, and the 
harmonies of vocal and instrumental music. 

Musical instruments are mentioned soon 
after the human race began to increase in the 

( 265 ) 




266 The Court and Camf of David. 

world. Jubal, the son of Laniech, a near de- 
scendant of Cain, was the inventor of them. 

The harp and organ are particularly no- 
ticed. The former was a stringed instrument, 
resembling that in use now. There was, how- 
ever, in the early ages, also the psaltery, 
having a greater number of strings. Indeed, 
there seem to have been several instruments 
of the same general style, resembling the 
harp, lyre, and guitar, some of which were 
played with a bow, like the violin. 

The organ was very simple, being composed 
of a few pipes, and carried in the hand. 

There were also wind instruments, or those 
used in connection with the breath. Although 
the trumpets were at first made of rams’ 
horns, such as the Israelites blew around 
the walls of Jericho, some of them were 
straight. The finest-toned, were the silver 
ones, used by the priests for calling the people 
to their sacrifices ; their clear tones were also 
the signal for battle. 

There were several instruments played by 
jpercussion, or striking together, or with the 
hand. The timbrel, or tambourine is one of 
the earliest of the kind mentioned in the 


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Sonpc of Moses and Miriam. Page 267 


Poetry and Music of the Hebrews, 267 

Bible. When Jacob left Laban in Syria, 
and was overtaken by him, the father of the 
young patriarch’s wives reproached his son- 
in-law for departing secretly. The exacting 
Syrian intimated, that had he known that Jacob 
was resolved to go, he would have sent him 
away with ” songs, with tabret, and with 
harp.” The tabret clearly was the timbrel 
or tambourine. Its Hebrew name was toipli; 
and it was used when lamenting the dead, 
and is still the accompaniment of the mourn- 
ful song ” among the people of the East. 

There are some musical instruments alluded 
to in the Bible whose precise form and quality 
it is impossible to determine. The captivity 
of the Hebrews in Egypt made them ac- 
quainted with a variety of music peculiar to 
that highly civilized nation, as well as with its 
art and agriculture. 

We can hardly imagine a grander oratorio 
than that upon the Red Sea’s shore, after 
the waters had returned upon Pharaoh and 
his host ; when to the exulting song of 
Moses, Miriam the prophetess and her choir 
of women responded, with a lofty psalm of 
praise and the loud timbrels. How stirring 



268 The Court and Carnj) of David, 

must have been the jubilant strains, swelling 
over the rolling sea, dark with Egypt’s men 
of war, and floating away into the solitary 
wilderness ! 

God, with his royal train of ministering 
spirits, and nature made and controlled by 
him, inspired the earliest poetry recorded. 
The sun’s first smile upon our sphere is 
announced in poetical language of sublime 
brevity ; — 

“ God said, Let there be light, 

And light was.” 

This impressive description of the world’s 
illumination, as it rose from chaos, is imitated 
well by a later and inspired pen : — 

“ lie spake, and it was done ; 

He commanded, and it stood fast.” 

When the dark eclipse of sin had fallen 
upon the world, the spirit of poesy was an 
angel of love, beauty, and worship, not driven 
from the abode of man, but attending him 
wdierever he wandered. 

The brief history of Abel, in the compara- 
tive solitude of mankind, "stands like a mourn- 
ful flower, marked with blood.” Jehovah’s 



Poetry and Music of the Hebrews, 269 

words of startling inquiry and retribution are 
simple yet beautiful : — 

“ Where is Abel thy brother? 

What' deed hast thou done? 

The voice of thy brother’s blood 
Cries to me from the earth. 

And now cursed art thou, an exile in the earth, 

Which hath opened her mouth, 

The stream of thy brother’s blood 
To drink from thy hand. 

When thou shalt till the ground 
It shall not yield thee its strength ; 

A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.” 

How briefly, in poetical form, is expressed 
the awful purpose of divine abandonment, 
and destruction of the descendants of the 
fratricide I — 

“ My spirit shall not always 
Continue to act in men. 

For they are flesh.” 

That decision of the Infinite One was the 
knell of doom to the w^orld. 

When the deluge subsided, and on the re- 
viving earth had been reared the altar of 
worship, and planted the fruitful vines, Noah 
breathed, in the language of poetry, the curse 
of God upon his unfilial son : — 



270 The Court and Camf of David, 

“ Cursed be Canaan ; 

Let him be a servant of servants to his brethren, 
Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Shem, 

And let Canaan be his servant. 

Let Jehovah enlarge Japheth ; * 

' Let him dwell in the tents of Shem, 

And let Canaan be his servant.” 

After the race had again multiplied, and 
rebelled against Jehovah, very forcibly is the 
vain and foolish ambition of men rebuked by 
the holy irony of God, both in his words and 
deeds of judgment. The aspiring people would 
scale heaven ; God ” laid his finger upon their 
lips, changed the articulation of their breath, 
and these are the ruin of their enterprise.” 

Said the men on the plains of Shinar, — 

“ Go to, let us build a city and tower, 

Whose top may reach to heaven.” 

Jehovah, imitating their proud resolve, re- 
plies, — 

“ Go to, let us go down now. 

And there confound their language. 

They have begun their work. 

And nothing will be restrained 
Till the work is accomplished.” 


The patriarchs who flourished at a later 


Poetry and Music of the Hebrews, 271 

period were gifted and poetical men. The 
leader of the splendid succession, Abram, was 
a hero* of faith and in arms. 

Nowhere but among his people was found 
such lofty trust, and its expression in the 
eloquence of action, and the words of po- 
etry. ” The poetry of other nations repre- 
sents men as holding intercourse with false 
gods, with genii, and departed heroes, but 
not with the true and only God of heaven and 
earth, and in a way so calm and confiding. 
The stranger has no other friend but God, 
who sent him a pilgrim into this land of 
strangers ; but him he held fast, as the best 
of all friends. What delicate passages occur 
in the conversation and intercourse of God 
with him, where he comforts and directs him 
in regard to the future, gives him now a 
token of his covenant and friendship, now a 
new name, then memorial signs, and requires 
of him, now this, and now that, return of affec- 
tionate confidence.” 

“ Fear thou not, Abram ; 

I am thy shield, thy exceeding great reward. ; 

And he brought him forth abroad, and said. 

Look towards heaven, and tell the stars. 



272 The Court and Camf of David, 

Art thou able to number them ? ' 

And he said, So shall thy seed be. 

And he had faith in Jehovah, ^ 

And he counted his faith to him 
For righteousness.” 

Jacob’s history is equally wonderful, and 
marked with poetical passages. How sub- 
limely is recorded a memorable scene, when a 
fugitive from the face of an angry brother ! — 

“ He reached a place and spent the night, 

For the sun was now already set. 

Then he took a stone from off the place. 

And laid it for his pillow. 

And laid him down to sleep. 

And there he dreamed, and lo ! a ladder stood 
Extended high above the earth. 

Whose top reached up to heaven. 

And messengers of God went up and down upon it. 

And lo I Jehovah stood above and said, 

I am Jehovah, the God of thy fathers. 

And Jacob awoke from his sleep, and said. 

Surely, Jehovah is in this place. 

And yet I knew it not ! And he was sore afraid, and said. 

How dreadful is this place I 

This is none other but the house of God ; 

Here is the gate of heaven. 

And Jacob took the stone, at break of day. 

And set it for a monument. 

And poured upon it oil, and called the place Bethel. 


» 



Poetry and Music ojf the Hebrews, 273 

And Jacob vowed a vow, and said, 

If God henceforth be with me, 

And guard me in the way I go, 

And give me food and raiment, 

That I return and see my father’s house in peace, 
Then shall Jehovah be my God, 

And this, which I have placed a monument. 

Shall be the house of God.” 

The wrestling beneath the watchful stars, a 
few years later, is written in language no less 
beautiful. 

In Jacob’s will, recorded in the forty-ninth 
chapter of Genesis, there breathes the very 
soul of poetry. 

And softly upon the desert air, around the 
wandering Hebrews, fell the divine benedic- 
tion from the lips of Balaam, hired by Balak, 
to curse the strange host, feared by the pagan 
chief ! There is no finer prophetic poetry in 
the Bible. 

And later, what lofty strains burst from the 
inspired lips of Deborah, when she was cele- 
brating, with Barak, the splendid victory over 
the Syrian Sisera ! 

Moses, whose genius rose full-orbed upon 
the night of servitude and oppression which 
succeeded the patriarchal age, was no less a 
18 



274 Court and Camf of David, 

gifted poet than an heroic chieftain and un- 
equalled lawgiver. His song on the Red Sea’s 
shore, the description of Jehovah’s appearance 
on Sinai, and his psalm in prospect of death, 
have all the inspiration of the muse. 

"He died, says the beautiful tradition of his 
people, at the mouth of God, and God him- 
self buried him. He died upon a mountain 
summit, overlooking a land for which he had 
done, and suffered, all that human powers could 
do, and suffer. His eyes might behold it, but 
his foot not tread upon it. Though firm as a 
rock in patience, in doing, and in suffering, 
unbelief and impatience had caused even him 
to waver, and therefore he came not to his 
place of rest, and survived not the attainment 
of the end for which he journeyed. Wise 
and happy provision for him, that he did not 
survive it ! Thus were preserved, unstained 
with the blood of the Canaanites, those hands 
which stretched the rod over the Red Sea, 
which received the law in the clouds, which 
built the sanctuary of God. Even in the 
battle with the Amalekites they were raised 
only in prayer. 

" We have the soul of Moses, severe, full of 



Poetry and Music of the Hebrews. 275 

zeal, and borne down with anxiety, even to 
death, in his last glowing and poetical efiu- 
sion. In this poem the images that surround 
us are the flaming mountain, the fiery and 
cloudy pillars which went before Israel, and 
in them the angel of the countenance of 
Jehovah.” 

The ancient worshippers' of the Most High, 
alone, had any just conceptions of the starry 
heavens, and of this small planet, in the 
infinity crowded with spheres. They never 
confounded in thought, or adoration, nature 
with "nature’s God.” 

There is one poet of antiquity, honored 
with a place in the Hebrew annals, whose 
deep experience, and the glowing numbers 
in which it is embalmed, more resemble 
David’s than those of any other. That mys- 
terious poet, orator, and sufleriug saint was 
Job. It is believed that he lived not far from 
the time of David. 

Like Israel’s minstrel king, he was prospered 
and tempted ; he suffered, wept, and wor- 
shipped. But from no gulf of sin and shame 
did any of hb plaintive accents rise. Like 
the Hebrew poets, while he had the deepest 



276 The Court and Cam^ of David. 

sympathy with the sublime and beautiful in 
the heavens and on the earth, he idolized 
none of these material forms, but was jealous 
of Jehovah’s honor and glory. 

In the vindication of his integrity against 
the accusations of his friends, he reveals both 
qualities of mind and heart : — 

“ Had I looked upon the sun when it shone forth, 

And the moon going abroad in its beauty, 

So that my heart had burned in secret. 

And I had kissed my hand for them, 

This would have been an abomination ; 

For I should have denied the God of heaven.” 

Another and later bard among the poets of 
prophecy, describes most sublimely this sub- 
jection of all nature to Jehovah when he rides 
forth in his chariot of war, to conquer and 
divide the earth : — 

“ The mountains saw thee and trembled; 

The waters passed away ; 

The deep uttered his voice. 

And lifted up his hands on high ; 

The sun and moon stood still in their tents. 

When they saw the brightness of thine arrows. 

The glittering spear of thy lightnings. 

They hasted away.” 

Fruitless would be the search, in all the 



Poetry and Afusic of the Hebrews, 277 

world of song, for finer descriptions of the 
ostrich, the horse, and the eagle : — 

“ A wing with joyous cry is uplifted yonder ; 

Is it the wing and feather of the ostrich ? 

When she commits her eggs to the earth, 

And leaves them to be warmed by the sand, 

She heeds it not that the foot may crush them. 

And the wild beast trample upon them. 

She casts off her young for none of hers ; 

In vain is her travail, but she regards it not; 

For God hath made her forgetful of wisdom. 

And hath not imparted to her reflection. 

At once she is up, and urges herself forward. 

She laughs at the horse and his rider. 

Hast thou given the horse his strength, 

And clothed his neck with its flowing mane ? 

Dost thou make him leap like the locust? 

The pomp of his neighing is terrible ; 

He paweth the earth, and joyeth in his strength. 
When he goeth against the weapons of war. 

He scoffeth at fear, and is nothing daunted. 

And turneth not back from facing the sword. 

Above him is the rattling of the quiver. 

The lightning of the spear and the lance. 

With vehemence and rage he devoureth the ground, 
And believeth not that the trumpet is sounding. 

The trumpet sounds louder ; he cries. Aha ! 

And from far he snuffeth the slaughter. 

The war-cry of the captains, and the shout of battle. 

Is it by tliy understanding that the hawk flieth, 
And spreadeth his wings to the south wind? 



278 The Court and Camf of David. 

Is it at thy word that the eagle is lifted up, 

And buildeth his nest on high ? 

He inhabiteth the rock, and all night is there, 

High upon the cliff, his rocky fortress. 

From this he spieth out his prey ; 

His eye searcheth it out from afar. 

His young ones are greedy of blood. 

And where the carcasses are there is he.” 

We shall add only one more descriptive 
poem. It is a picture of Job himself, and is 
a very fine delineation of an ancient emir, or 
chief, imbued with the religious spirit. 

“ 0 that I were as in the ancient times, 

The days when God preserved me ! 

The light shone clear upon my head. 

And by his light I walked through darkness. 

As once I was in the days of my youth. 

When God took counsel with me in my tent. 

When the Almighty yet was with me. 

And round about me were my servants ! 

And where I went a stream of milk flowed on. 

The rock poured out for me rivers of oil : 

When from my house I went to the assembly. 

And spread my carpet in the place of meeting. 

The young men saw me, and concealed themselves ; 
The aged rose up, and continued standing ; 

Princes refrained from talking, 

And laid their hands upon their mouths ; 

The voice of counsellors was silent; 

He whose ear heard me counted me blessed, 



Poetry and Music of the Hebrews. 279 

And he whose eye saw me bore witness to me, 
Because I delivered the poor that cried, 

The fatherless that had none to help him. 

He that was ready to perish blessed me, 

And I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy; 

I put on rigliteousness, and it clothed me ; 

My judgment was as a robe and a diadem. 

I was eyes to the blind. 

And feet was I to the lame. 

I was a father to the poor. 

And searched out the cause of strangers. 

I brake the jaws of the wicked. 

And plucked the spoil from his teeth. 

Then I said, I shall perish in my nest, 

I shall multiply my days as the phoenix. 

My root shall be nourished by the waters, 

The dew lay all night upon my branches. 

My strength in me shall be refreshed. 

My bow renewed in my hand. 

Men gave ear to me, and waited; 

They kept silence at my counsel ; 

After my words they spake not again ; 

Yet my speech dropped upon them as the dew. 

They waited for my words as for the rain. 

And opened their mouths as for the latter rain. 

If I laughed at them they were not offended. 

And no one saddened the joy of my countenance. 

I chose for them and sat as chief ; 

I dwelt as a king in the midst of my army, 

As a comforter among the mourners.” 

No mention, we believe, is made of man’s 



28 o The Court and Cam^ of David, 

music ill the Book of Job ; but the music of 
nature, from the hum of the insect to the 
thunder breaking along the heavens, brought 
to his attentive ear tidings of God, whom he 
praised in renewed prosperity with joyful 
lips. 

But we cannot jiause over the gems of song 
scattered through the sacred narrative, before 
David touched his wondrous harp. 

There is no one who can tell us in which 
character David excelled — that of shepherd, 
Christian monarch, or poet. According to 
the Bible narrative, he occupied the first rank 
in each, and had no rival. 

From childhood he had a passion for music, 
and began its culture wdth the shepherd’s pipe 
and the simple harp, in early youth compos- 
ing the songs which he sang to the melody of 
the strings sw^ept by his hand. 

David, like all true bards, w^as ” poet-born,” 
and his culture was mainjy the teaching of 
nature he so ardently loved. He may have 
frequented the school of the prophets at Ea- 
mah, but his muse was trained for highest 
soaring, among the scenes of his native land. 
Snow-crowned Lebanon, its green and lovely 



Poetry and Music of the Hebrews, 281 

valleys, the rocks and rills, the forest and 
plain, the glories of the morning and even- 
ing, were all familiar objects to the poet of 
Bethlehem. 

The most gifted, cherished poets of every 
age have had but little of the means of disci- 
pline in the schools. The Grecian Homer, 
the English Shakspeare, and Burns of Scot- 
land, a^’e examples of this outgushing song 
from the overflowing soul, learning its meas- 
ures from the voices of melody coming to it 
from earth and sky. 

David, it is said in the Scriptures, was 
called of God to be the poet of his people, the 
bard of the church in all ages, " the man who 
was raised up on high, the anointed of God, 
and the sweet Psalmist of Israel.” 

He longed to build the magnificent temple, 
but was denied the privilege. It was his 
great work to make peace wdth the nations 
for this very object, and create the sublimest 
songs of praise for its courts. 

The temple of Solomon ! Where is now its 
glory of dome and turret, of arch and porch, 
of gold, silver, and precious stones? Long 
ago it departed; but the temple of David’s 



282 The Court and Camf of David. 

song was never more beautiful and admired. 
Not a column is overthrown, not a stone 
mouldered or marred, nor any of its fine 
gold, or garniture of diamonds, dim. The 
resplendent arches, the swelling dome, and 
the shining towers, are the same to-day as 
when the glorious structure rose before the 
worshipping tribes of Israel. This spiritual 
temple of harmony will survive all the thrones 
and cathedrals of the w^orld. 

Not only had David the native genius, and 
the appointment of God by his purpose and in- 
spiration, to be the Psalmist of Israel, but 
his next qualification for the unrivalled honor, 
was deep, uniform piety. Eeligiou was not a 
sentiment with him — no glow of enthusiastic 
admiration of a Deity whose principal mani- 
festations were the works of nature. But he 
was a man of prayer and faith. God was a 
holy King, distinct in his personal character 
and written revelation from the manifold works 
of his Inind. David loved nature, but it was 
not God to his penitent, trusting, loving soul. 
He maintained his religious character wherever 
he wandered, scorning the very shadow of 
idolatry thrown between him and the holy 


Poetry and Music of the Hebrews, 283 

Lawgiver and Judge of all. This sincere 
piety was the strength and beauty of his 
song. 

Another providential preparation for the 
position of the world’s great Psalmist, was his 
varied exj^erience. 

Never was there such an experience before, 
nor has there been one like it since. "His 
life was but an April day,” sunshine and 
shower succeeding each other continually. 
God raised him on high, then cast him down. 
He gave him a friend who stands alone among 
men in unselfish, unchanging afiection — then 
took him away. He gave him a noble family, 
and through it, were laid on the monarch the 
heaviest blows of discipline, till, with Job, 
his heart was broken. 

In wilderness, and palace, and camp, he 
was environed with dangers, until his heart 
was attuned to all the joys and sorrows of a 
fallen race. 

The great sin, over which the wicked rejoice, 
by the overruling mercy of God, gave to the 
church her most touching, thrilling melodies. 
His victories and honors, his unlimited power, 
and his strong impulses exposed him in a 



284 The Court and Canif of David, 

favoring hour to the arch-fiend, who had fol- 
lowed him so watchfully with his arrows, and 
overcame him. But how soon the penitential 
cry was heard I 

He was not an impure man ; his life, as a 
whole, and his poetry prove it. Compare his 
psalms with the poetry of Greece and Rome, 
and of England’s greatest bards, and what a 
contrast in holy refinement and spiritual ele- 
vation ! Nor was the king of Israel a mur- 
derer in spirit. His first crime of sensual 
indulgence led naturally, almost inevitably, to 
the other — Uriah’s death. There was blood 
on his soul, but over it he poured floods of 
penitential tears. He was kind and pitiful, 
loving and condescending. 

His character will bear the closest com- 
parison with all ancient bards and heroes. 
Mark his magnanimity and generosity con- 
trasted with the "cold, mean, settled hatred 
of his persecutor : ” his spirit of forbearance 
and forgiveness ; his remembrance of kind- 
ness shown him ; his self-denial, and the ded- 
ication of his private wealth to the temple he 
was not permitted to build. 

Whatever the guilt of his transirressions 


Poetry and Music of the Hebrews. 285 

before God, how could we have spared the 
voice of the sinner at Jehovah’s feet? Com- 
pare him with the nobleman and poet, Lord 
Byron, who sinned darkly, repeatedly, then 
cursed God, and died; or, with nature’s hum- 
ble bard, Kobert Burns, who also "sinned and 
sobbed,” but left no songs of penitence, faith, 
and pardon. Poor Burns we will not judge ; 
yet O, how inferior his rank on earth to the 
Psalmist of Israel ! 

To a mind competent, by its impartial 
judgment, to feel* the force of evidence in 
the case, the undisguised revelation of Da- 
vid’s sin, and his own unsparing condemnation 
of himself, are the most convincing proof of 
the divine authority of the Scriptures, and 
the sincerity and depth of the Psalmist’s 
piety. 

Noah’s sin of intoxication, by using too 
freely the fermented juice of a plant un- 
known before, is also quoted by the enemies 
of God and his Word, when, under the cir- 
cumstances, it was a trivial offence compared 
with modern drinking customs. Abraham 
dissembled in moments of weakness and 
fear; and who has not? But he was, never- 



286 The Court and Canif of David, 

theless, the noble patriarch, the heroic deliv- 
erer of Lot, the intercessor for guilty Sodom, 
and the "friend of God.” 

Isaac was timid, and Jacob crafty, and both 
suffered for their sins, were penitent, and 
loyal to their eternal King. 

David never apologizes for his or any man’s 
transgression ; but by his confession of weak- 
ness, and prayers for holiness of heart, he 
enforces the solemn admonition, "Let him 
that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he 
fall.” 

Lyrical poetry, or sacred song, rose to its 
highest strains under the sceptre of David. 
He gathered "the scattered wild flowers of 
the country, and planted them as a royal gar- 
land upon Mount Zion.” He regarded his 
harp, his throne, and his laurels of victory, 
as the Lord’s, and they were all brought into 
the service of praise to the Almighty King. 

Every important event was celebrated, be- 
cause David felt that his reign was appointed 
by God for his own glory through his imper- 
fect church in the world; and, therefore, "in 
his psalms his whole kingdom lives.” They 
became the " song-book of the nation.” Later 



Poetry and Music of the Hebrews. 287 

poets imitated the kingly bard, and some 
of their noble compositions have a place in 
that collection of songs. They were sung on' 
occasions of popular rejoicing, with enthu- 
siasm that stirred the souls of the people, 
standing in the open air, or thronging the 
court of the temple. 

Four thousand Levites, with a rich official 
dress, were arranged in classes or choirs 
under separate leaders, of whom there were 
three preeminent — Asaph, Heman, and Jedu- 
thun. Korah’s children, who are especially 
named, it is supposed, belonged to the choir 
of Heman. 

David’s psalms in their variety include all 
the higher qualities of Hebrew poetry. Their 
simplicity is wonderful. "Each flower stands 
rooted in truth ; the poetry is only fact on 
fire.” No less marked is the range of thought 
and feeling. In a single brief psalm he 
sweeps all the chords of the human heart 
"from the groan to the pasan, from the deep 
self-accusation to the transport of gratitude. 
The devotional spirit of these hallowed odes is 
a perfect mystery, except on the theory of 
inspiration. The touched spirit of David, 



288 The Court and Camf of David, 

whether wandering in the desert or seated 
in his own palace, whether in defeat or vic- 
tory, whether in glory or in deep guilt, 
turns instinctively to heaven. Firmly, with 
his blood-red hand, he grasps the Book of the 
Law of his God ! From old promises, as well 
as fresh revelations, he extracts the hope, and 
builds up the image of a coming Redeemer ! 
It is especially beautiful to see the wanderer 
of Maon and Engedi, surrounded by the lion 
faces of his men, — the centre of Israel’s dis- 
aflfection, distress, and despair, — retiring from 
their company to pray in the clefts of the 
rock ; or, sleepless, amid their savage sleeping 
forms, and the wild music of their breathing, 
singing to his own soul those sacred poems, 
which have been the life of devotion in every 
successive age. 

”From all these qualities of the psalms 
arises their exquisite adaptation to the prais- 
ing purposes alike of private Christians, of 
families, and of public assemblies, in every 
age. We are far from denying that other aids 
to, and expressions of, devotion may be legit- 
mately used; but David, after all, has been 
the chief singer of the church, and the hold 


Poetry and Music of the Hebrews, 289 

in the wilderness is still its grand orchestra. 
Some, indeed, as of old, that are discontented 
and disgusted with life, may have repaired to 
it ; but there, too, you trace the footsteps of the 
widow and fatherless. There the stranger in 
a strange land has dried his tears ; and there 
those of the penitent have been loosened in 
gracious showers. There the child has re- 
ceived an early foretaste of the sweetness of 
the green pastures and still waters of piety. 
There the aged has been taught confidence 
against life or death in the sure mercies of 
David ; and there the darkness of the de- 
pressed spirit has been raised up, and borne 
away like a cloud on the viewless tongue of 
the morning wind. But mightier spirits, too, 
have derived strength from those Hebrew 
melodies. The soul of the Keformer has 
vibrated under them to its depths ; and the 
lone hand of a Luther, holding his banner 
before the eyes of Europe, has trembled less 
that it was stretched out to the. tune of Da- 
vid’s heroic psalms. On them the freed spirit 
of the martyr has soared away. And have 
not destruction and death heard their fame, 
when, on the brown heaths of Scotland, the 
19 




290 The Court and Cam^ of David, 

stern lay was lifted up, by the persecuted, like 
a new drawn sword, and waved flashing before 
the eyes of the foemen ? 

‘In S'udah’s land God is well known ; 

His name’s in Israel great ; 

In Salem is his tabernacle, 

In Zion is his seat. 

There arrows of the bow he brake, , 

The shield, the sword, the spear ; 

More glorious thou than hills of prey, 

More excellent art far.’ 

Wild, holy, tameless strains, how have ye 
run down through ages, in which large poems, 
systems, and religions, have perished, firing 
the souls of poets, kissing the lips of children, 
smoothing the pillows of the dying, nerving 
the warrior to heroic rage, perfuming the 
chambers of solitary saints, and clasping into 
one the hearts and voices of thousands of 
assembled worshippers.; tinging many a lit- 
erature, and finding a home in many a land ; 
and still ye seem as fresh, and young, and 
powerful as ever; yea, preparing for even 
.mightier triumphs than when first chanted ! 
Britain, Germany, and America now sing 



Poetry and Music of th^ Hebrews, 291 

yon; but you must yet awaken the dumb 
millions of China and Japan.” 

David represented the theocracy, and in 
this high relation to God and the people 
often expressed in strongest language his 
abhorrence of those who would overthrow 
his kingdom, and thus annihilate the church 
of God. And it is not improbable that, like 
Job, he has left in some passages the tone of 
human frailty. Whatever difficulties may 
appear to any minds in connection with the 
imprecations that occasionally burn on his 
lips, none can deny the softening, refining 
tendency, on the whole, of the psalms. They 
cultivate no bitter, revengeful spirit, but lay 
all human pride and passion at Jehovah’s 
feet. 

Every line reveals the transparent truth- 
fulness of the Psalmist ; there 'is no conceal- 
ment, no shadow of hypocrisy. Sensitive, 
alive to all that is lovely in nature and 
humanity, the enthusiastic patron of music 
and poetry, the defender of the true faith, 
we may safely challenge impartial history 
to furnish his equal in the annals of a fallen 



292 The Court and Camf of David, 

race, viewed in all his relations to it and to 
God. 

Nothing can show us more clearly and sad- 
ly the malignant nature of depravity than the 
eagerness and bitterness with which the scepti- 
cal and the impenitent who believe the Word 
of God theoretically, dwell upon the faults, and 
the disgraceful falling of those whose Chris- 
tian character and influence made them con- 
spicuous. Unbelief feeds on the sins of the 
devout, and finds comfort in disloyalty to God 
by looking at the imperfections of the visible 
church. Continually do the wicked verify 
God’s declaration, "They eat up the sins of 
my people as they eat bread.” How many 
men have sneered at David who were " whited 
sepulchres ” of corruption ! 

Truly the Psalmist of the Kedeemer’s Israel 
won and wet with tears the laurels of undying 
fame. When the scoflfs of the sceptical and 
trifling have died away before the songs of 
millennial rejoicing, the frailties and sins of 
the man will be forgotten in the melodies of 
his inspired minstrelsy floating over land and 
sea I 



The Songs of Exile. 


293 


CHAPTEE II. 

THE SONGS OF EXILE. 

E shall neither attempt a formal di- 
vision of the psalms, nor follow the 
order of their composition, but in- 
troduce them in harmony with the 
general plan of this Avork. There are none 
that can be traced to his youthful experience 
in Bethlehem, or in the court of Saul. That 
he did Avrite sacred songs, Avhich A\^ere sung 
Avhile he played upon his harp, Ave cannot 
doubt. It accords with the early develop- 
ments of genius in everything, whether scien- 
tific culture or poetry. And hovv interesting 
would be the fragments of his earliest song, 
his juvenile and youthful efforts in psalmody ! 

A feAv representative psalms will illustrate 
the great periods and experiences of David’s 
life, and deepen, we hope, the interest any 




294 The Court and Cam^ of David. 

reader may have felt before in the songs of 
David. 

In regard to many of the hallowed odes, we 
have not the slightest hint concerning the date 
or occasion of their composition ; they seem 
to have a general reference to David’s trials 
and triumphs, to Israel, the Messiah, and the 
Zion of his love. 

Whether all of them were actually used in 
public worship we do not know ; but that 
they formed the treasury of sacred song for 
the sanctuary none can doubt. 

There is one psalm which, wherever com- 
posed, is beautifully descriptive of his faithful 
service among his father’s flocks, designed to 
illustrate Jehovah’s care of his people. How 
like the Christian’s transition from earth to the 
" fields arrayed in living green,” is the allu- 
sion to the passage of the sheep through a 
deep ravine, from a pasture which no longer 
yielded food, to another fresh and abundant. 
Such is the shadow, and only a shadow^ 
through which the ransomed soul wings its 
way' to heaven. And God did exalt and 
honor David before his foes, according to his 
own prediction. 


The Songs of Exile. 


29s 


“ Jehovah is my Shepherd ; 

I shall not want. 

He maketh me lie down 
Upon green pastures ; 

He leadeth me 
Beside still waters ; 

He restoreth my life. 

He leadeth me in a straight path, 

Still faithful to his name. 

And though I walk 
Through death’s dark valley, 

I fear no evil, 

Por Thou art with me ; 

Thy trusty shepherd’s staff 
Is comfort and support. 

Here, spread before my eyes. 

Thou hast prepared my table 
In presence of my foes ; 

My head thou dost anoint. 

My cup is running over. 

Yea, goodness and mercy follow me 
Through all the days of my life. 

We have also an ode to the starry heavens, 
reflecting, as a tranquil lake does their glory, 
the wonder and adoring rapture of the poet’s 
expanding mind beneath their magnificence, 
while he lived among the hills of Bethle- 
hem : — 

“ O Lord our Lord, 

How excellent is thy name in all the earth ! 


296 The Court and Cam^ of David. 


Who hast set tliy glory above the heavens. 

Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained 
strength, 

Because of mine enemies, 

That thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. 

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers. 

The moon and the stars which thou hast ordained. 

What is man, that thou art mindful of him ? 

. And the son of man, that thou visitest him? 

For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels. 

And hast crowned him with glory and honor. 

Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy 
hands ; 

Thou hast put all things under his feet : 

All sheep and oxen. 

Yea, and the beasts of the field. 

The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea. 

And whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. 

O Lord, our Lord, 

How EXCELLENT IS THY NAME IN ALL THE EARTH.” 

After ii glance at the earth, which reflects 
Jehovah’s glory, and praises liini with infant 
voices, "David’s imagination and faith com- 
bined to turn his eye into a telescope ; a 
glimmer of the true starry scheme came 
like a revelation to his soul ; and, considering 
at once the magnitude -of the heavenly bodies, 
and their order, beauty, and lustre, he cried 
out, ' What is man ? ’ This was his first feel- 


The Songs of Exile. 297 

ing ; but it was breathlessly followed by a 
perception of the exceeding grandeur of man’s 
position in reference to this lower world. 

* Thou hast made him lord over the works of 
thy hands below,’ although these sovereign 
heavens seem to defy his dominion, and to 
laugh over his tiny head. It was not permitted 
even to David to foresee the time when man’s 
strong hand was to draw that sky nearer, like 
a curtain — -when man was to unfold its laws, 
to predict its revolutions, and to plant the 
flag of triumph upon its remote pinnacles. 
Since his eye rested, half in despair, upon 
that ocean of glory, and since he drew back 
from it in shuddering admiration, how many 
bold divers have, from every point of the 
shore, plunged amid its waters, and what 
spoils brought home ! — here the single pearl 
of a planet, and here the rich coral of a con- 
stellation, and here, again, the convoluted 
shell of a firmament — besides, what all have 
tended to give us, the hope of fairer treasures, 
of entire argosies of supersolar spoil, till the 
words of the poet shall become true, — 

‘ Heaven, hast thou secrets ? 

Man unbares me ; I have none.’ ” 



298 The Court and Ca 7 nj> of David, 

The deep spiritual meaning of this psalm is 
revealed in the New Testament. It is quoted 
by Jesus in the twenty-first chapter of Mat- 
thew, and applied to the children singing their 
hosannas to the ” Son of David ; ” and by 
Paul ill Hebrews, the second chapter. David 
most lovingly and devoutly 

“Looked through nature up to nature’s God.” 

Although we have no record of poetical 
eflfusions in Bethlehem, and in the palace of 
Saul, we know that his harp and muse were, 
next to God, who inspired his harmonies, 
his comfort in persecutions and exile. He 
calmed his troubled spirit, and often made 
the deepest solitudes sweet to his lonely spirit 
by his harp, and the composition of his im- 
mortal songs. 

Nor can we doubt that softening, savinof 
impressions were made upon many of the 
heathen who listened to his devotional strains. 
Indeed, it is probable that pagans were con- 
verted by his influence to the Hebrew faith ; 
for we read of permanent accessions to his 
army, and also of other subjects, from the 
tribes amonor whom he had lived. 


The Songs of Exile, 299 

The first song of exile, whose title declares 
its origin, was composed while David was 
concealed by Michal, and the house was sur- 
rounded by spies. The messengers of ven- 
geance sent by the king are well compared to 
blood-hounds tracking their prey. Jehovah’s 
sovereign power and hastening judgment 
upon his enemies are expressed in the 
strongest language. What figures could sur- 
pass in power the representation of their im- 
potent rage by Jehovah’s laughter '^ — or of 
their entire overthrow, by chalf and stubble, 
in the resistless flames? 

This forcible imagery reminds us of the 
awful words of God written by Solomon, also 
a royal poet, respecting all uni-epenting souls : 
" Because I have called and ye have refused, 
I have stretched out my hand and no man 
regarded, therefore I will laugh at your ca- 
lamity, and mock when your fear cometh.” 

“Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: 

Defend me from them that rise up against me. 

Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, 

And save me from bloody men. 

For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul : 

The mighty are gathered against me ; 

Not for my transgression. 



300 The Court and Canif of David. 


Nor for my sins, 0 Lord. 

They run and prepare themselves without my fault : 

Awake to help me, and behold. 

Thou therefore, O Lord God of hosts. 

The God of Israel, 

Awake to visit all the heathen : 

Be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. 

They return at evening : they make a noise like a dog, 
And go round about the city. 

Behold, they belch out with their mouth : 

Swords are in their lips : 

For who, say they, doth hear? 

But thou, O Lord, shalt laugh at them ; 

Thou shalt have all the heathen in derision. 

Because of his strength will I wait upon thee ; 

For God is my defence. 

The God of my mercy shall prevent me : 

God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies. 

Slay them not, lest my people forget : 

Scatter them by thy power ; 

And bring them down, 0 Lord our shield. 

For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips 
Let them even be taken in their pride : 

And for cursing and lying which they speak. 

Consume them in wrath ; 

Consume them, that they may not be : 

And let them know that God ruleth in Jacob 
Unto the ends of the earth. 

And at evening let them return ; and let them make a noise 
like a dog. 

And go round about the city. 

Let them wander up and down for meat, 




* 





-t 







. u 





• VrV . 



The Song's of Exile, 


301 


.And grudge if they be not satisfied. 

But I will sing of thy power; 

Yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: 

Bor thou hast been my defence 

And refuge in the day of my trouble. 

Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing: 

Bor God is my defence, and the God of my mercy.” 

When Doeg the Edomite l)etrayed David 
to Saul, informing the king that the fugi- 
tive was with Abimelech, sternly he swept his 
harp to the fiery numbers that describe the 
evil tongue and the overthrow of the proud 
foe ! Perhaps in nothing, excepting the waste 
of time and money, are a sinful race so in- 
sensible to the claims and final judgment of 
God, as in the lawless use of that same of- 
fending tongue. Therefore Christ impressive- 
ly declared that for ” every idle word ” we 
must give our account in the day of judg- 
ment. 

“Why hoasteth thou thyself in mischief, 0 mighty man? 
The goodness of God endureth continually. 

Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs, 

Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.* 

Thou lovest evil more than good. 

And lying rather than to speak righteousness. 

Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue. 
God shall likewise destroy thee forever. 


302 The Court and Camf of David, 

He shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling- 
place, 

And rodt thee out of the land of the living. 

The righteous also shall see, and fear. 

And shall laugh at him : 

Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength, 

But trusted in the abundance of his riches. 

And strengthened himself in his wickedness. 

But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God : 

I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever. 

I will praise thee forever, because thou hast done it : 

And I will wait on thy name ; for it is good before thy 
saints.” 

More plaintive is his song over the treach- 
ery of the Ziphites, expressing his unfttiling 
assurance of the divine deliverance — sound- 
ing forth the apostolic shout of triumph, 
"If God be for us, who can be against 
us?” 

“ Save me, O God, by thy name. 

And judge me by thy strength. 

Hear my prayer, O God ; 

Give ear to the words of my mouth. 

For strangers are risen up against me, 

And oppressors seek after my soul : 

They have not set God before them. 

Behold, God is mine helper : 

The Lord is with them that uphold my soul. 

He shall reward evil unto mine enemies : 

Cut them off in thy truth. 



The Songs of Exile, 


303 


I will freely sacrifice unto thee : 

I will praise thy name, O Lord ; for it is good. 

For he hath delivered me out of all trouble; 

And mine eye hath seen his desire upon mine enemies.” 

From the cave of Engecli, his wild refuge 
from the wrath of Saul, rang upon the still air 
of the wilderness the bitter prayer, blending 
with it the notes of his all-conquering faith. 

The psalm is a striking prophecy of the 
persecutions which were to come upon God’s 
people in the ages after, and the glory of 
Zion’s King above all the scenes of conflict. 

The harper spoke for Daniel in the lions’ 
den, and the martyrs of every land since was 
shed the blood of '-righteous Abel.” 

“Be merciful unto me, O God, 

Be merciful unto me, for my soul trustetli in thee : 

Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, 

Until these calamities be overpast. 

- I will cry unto God most high ; 

Unto God that performeth all things for me. 

He shall send from heaven, and save me 

From the reproach of him that would swallow me up. 

God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. 

My soul is among lions ; 

And I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the 
sons of men. 

Whose teeth are spears and arrows, 

And their tongue a sharp sword. 


304 The Court and Cam-p of David. 


Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens ; 

Let thy glory be above all the earth. 

Tliey have prepared a net for my steps ; 

My soul is bowed down : 

They have digged a pit before me, 

Into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. 

My heart is fixed, O God, 

My heart is fixed : I will sing and give praise. 

Awake up, my glory ; 

Awake, psaltery and harp : 

I myself will awake early. 

I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people : 

I will sing unto thee among the nations. 

For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, 

And thy truth unto the clouds. 

Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens : 

Let thy glory be above all the earth.” 

The eleventh, seventeenth, eighteenth, 
twenty-eighth, fifty-second, fifty-ninth, six- 
ty-first, sixty-third, and eighty-sixth psalms 
have also the under-tone of the exile’s experi- 
ence ; and, with some others, w^ere undoubt- 
edly written during the eventful years of 
wandering. 

They will echo to the end of time the 
spiritual solitudes, warfare with foes within 
and without, trust and triumphs of God’s peo- 
ple. Nothing less than the inspiration of the 


The Songs of Exile. 305 

Almighty could so suggest the language of 
universal Christian experience, through which 
a persecuted king of that ancient period ex- 
pressed the eruelty of royal hate, the conflicts 
with heathen foes, and his victories. 

20 



3o6 The Court and Camf of David, 


CHAPTER III. 

THE SONGS OF THE BATTLE-FIELD. 

E have no allusion in sacred history 
to the music of the marches to the 
plains of war. But the power of 
the Lord of hosts in giving victory, 
and the joy of conquest over the enemies of 
Israel and of God, are expressed in sublimest 
strains. 

There can be nothing grander in human lan- 
guage than the song of triumph when the 
great struggle with Saul was over, and the 
vacant throne became his own. 

This psalm, the eighteenth in the collection, 
refers to all his enemies, of whom Saul had 
been chief, and was designed for permanent 
temple service : 

“ I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. 

The Lord is ray rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer ; 

My God, my strength, in whom I will trust ; 




The Songs of the Battle-field. 307 


My buckler, and the horn of iny salvation, and my high 
tower. 

I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised : 

So shall I he saved from mine enemies. 

The sorrows of death compassed me, 

And the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. 

The sorrows of hell compassed me about : 

The snares of death prevented me. 

In my distress I called upon the Lord, 

And cried unto my God : 

He heard my voice out of his temple, 

And my cry came before him, even into his ears. 

Then the earth shook and trembled, 

The foundations also of the hills moved 
And were shaken, because he was wroth. 

There went up a smoke out of his nostrils. 

And fire out of his mouth devoured : 

Coals were kindled by it. 

He bowed the heavens also, and came down : 

And darkness was under his feet. 

And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly : 

Yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. 

He made darkness his secret place ; 

His pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick 
clouds of the skies. 

At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds 
passed. 

Hail-stones and coals of fire. 

The Lord also thundered in the heavens. 

And the Highest gave his voice ; 

Hail-stones and coals of fire. 

Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; 


3 o 8 The Court and Camf of David, 


And he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them. 

Then the channels of waters were seen, 

And the foundations of the world were discovered 
At thy rebuke, O Lord, 

At the blast of the breath of thy nostrils. 

He sent from above, he took me, 
lie drew me out of many w'aters. 

He delivered me from my strong enemy, 

And from them which hated me : for they were too strong 
for me. 

They prevented me in the day of ray calamity : 

But the Lord was my stay. 

He brought me forth also into a large place : 

He delivered me, because he delighted in me. 

The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness ; 
According to the cleanness of my hands hath he recom- 
pensed me. 

For I have kept the ways of the Lord, 

And have not wickedly departed from my God. 

For all his judgments were before me. 

And I did not put away his statutes from me. 

I was also ui)right before him. 

And I kept myself from mine iniquity. 

Therefore hath the Lord recompensed me according to my 
righteousness. 

According to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight. 

With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful; 

With an upright man thou wilt show thyself upright; 

AVith the pure thou wilt show thyself pure ; 

And with the froward thou wilt show thyself froward. 

For thou wilt save the afflicted people ; 

But wilt bring down high looks. 


The Songs of the Battle-field. 309 

For thou wilt light my candle : 

The Lord my God will' enlighten my darkness. 

For by thee I have run through a troop ; 

And by my God have I leaped over a wall. 

As for God, his way is perfect: 

The word of the Lord is tried : 

He is a buckler to all those that trust in him. 

F or who is God save the Lord ? 

Or who is a rock save our God? 

It is God that girdeth me with strength, 

And maketh my way perfect. 

He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet, 

And setteth me upon my high places. 

He teacheth my hands to war. 

So that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. 

Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation : 

And thy right hand hath holden me up, 

And thy gentleness hath made me great. 

Thou hast enlarged my steps under me. 

That my feet did not slip. 

1 have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them : 

Neither did I turn again till they were consumed. 

I have wounded them that they were not able to rise : 

They are fallen under my feet. 

For tliou hast girded me with strength unto the battle : 

Thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me. 
Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies. 

That I might destroy them that hate me. 

They cried, but there was none to save them ; 

Even unto the Lord, but he answered them not. 

Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind : 

I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets. 



310 The Court and Cam-p of David, 


Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people ; 
And thou hast made me the head of the heathen : 

A people whom I have not known shall serve me. 

As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me : 

The strangers shall submit themselves unto me : 

The strangers shall fade away, 

And be afraid put of their close places. • 

The Lord liveth ; and blessed be my Rock ; 

And let the God of my salvation be exalted. 

It is God that avengeth me. 

And subdueth the people unto me. 

He delivereth me from mine enemies : 

Yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me : 
Thou hast delivered me from the violent man. 

Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the 
heathen. 

And sing praises unto thy name. 

Great deliverance giveth he to his king; 

And showeth mercy to his anointed. 

To David, and to his seed for evermore.” 

Similar in sentiment and style, but of a 
wider sweep and loftier tone at times, is the 
sixty-eighth psalm, called the "Tiiuinphal 
March of God.” The imagery is varied and 
transcendently fine, vividly bringing before us 
the majesty of "Him that rideth upon the 
heavens,” who is also "a father to the father- 
less, and a judge of the widows in his holy 
habitation ; ” this last precious promise de- 


The Songs of the Battle-field, 31 1 

signed to comfort, until " death is swallowed 
up in victory,” the heart of her whose earthly 
support is smitten down by her side, leaving 
to her anxious care the children of her love. 
We have also the grace and bounty of God 
set before us in all his regal and paternal 
relations to the world. 

David’s lamentation over the death of Jon- 
athan in that closing contest of Saul with the 
Philistines will always be regarded as a rare 
literary production — a gem of singular beauty 
in the sacred casket of flashing diamonds. 

“ The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places ; 

How are the mighty fallen ! 

Tell it not in Gath, 

Publish it not in the streets of Askelon ; 

Lest the daughters of the Pliilistines rejoice, 

Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. 

Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, 

Neither let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings : 
For there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away. 

The shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed 
with oil. 

From the blood of the slain, 

From the fat of the mighty, 

The bow of Jonathan turndd not back. 

And the sword of Saul returned not empty. 

Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, 
And in their death they were not divided ; 



312 The Court and Ca 7 nj[> of David, 


They were swifter tlian eagles, 

They were stronger than lions. 

Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, 

Who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights ; 

Who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel. 

How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle ! 

0 Jonathan, thou wast slain in thy high places. 

1 am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan : 

Very pleasant hast thou been unto me : 

Thy love to me was wonderful. 

Passing the love of women. 

How are tlie mighty fallen. 

And the weapons of war perished I ” 

The twentieth psalm is the great battle-hymn 
of the warrior-king, set apart for no particular 
campaign, but to be used whenever the war- 
cloud darkened the land. It is difficult for us 
to create, in the ” chambers of imagery,” a 
picture of the scenes connected with the his- 
tory of that song. The assembling of the 
thousands of musicians at the tabernacle, and 
later within the temple, and, amid the prep- 
arations for conflict, pouring forth the loud 
harmonies of this stirring song, was an ap- 
peal to the Lord of hosts worthy of the only 
devout and the greatest monarch on earth, 
and of the splendid army that defended his 
realm. 


The Songs of the Battle-field. 313 


“ Tlie Lord hear thee in the day of trouble ; 

The name of the God of Jacob defend thee, 

Send thee help from the sanctuary, ' 

And strengthen thee out of Zion, 

Remember all thy offerings. 

And accept thy burnt sacrifice. 

Grant thee according to thine own heart. 

And fulfil all thy counsel. 

We will rejoice in thy salvation, 

And in the name of our God we will set up our banners : 
The Lord fulfil all thy petitions. 

Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed; 

He will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving 
strength of his right hand. 

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses : 

But we will remember the name of the Lord our God. 
They are brought down and fallen : 

But we are risen, and stand upright. 

Save, Lord : 

Let the king hear us when we call.” 

The bugle-blast that summoned Absalom’s 
battalions to his standard, and shook to its 
foundation the throne of David, awoke the 
fugitive monarch’s muse to strains which for 
years had not thrilled upon a human ear. 

The aching heart seemed to throb in the 
trembling strings of his harp, and the wail 
of anguish was heard again in his notes of 


song. 


314 The Court and Cam^ of David. 

Ill imaj^iimtioii we can behold him on Mount 
Olivet, when fleeing from his capital, towards 
which Absalom was marching, surrounded by 
his brave adherents, bending over his harp, 
and singing the third psalm. The spirit of 
the harper was never so bowed before under 
the weight of atiliction. In the distance lay 
the deserted " City of David ; ” around him 
was the forest solitude of the mountain ; be- 
fore him, humiliating exile, with its uncertain 
issue. How touchingly floated away from 
that sacred height this lamentation, with its 
sweet undertone of faith and hope I — 

“ Lord, how are they increased that trouble me ! 

Many are they that rise up against me. 

Many there be which say of my soul, 

There is no help for him in God. 

But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me ; 

My glory, and the lifter up of mine head. 

I cried unto the Lord with my voice, 

And he heard me out of his holy hill. 

I laid me down and slept ; 

I awaked ; for the Lord sustained me. 

I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, 

That have set themselves against me round about. 

Arise, O Lord ; 

Save me, 0 my God : 

Tor thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek 
bone; 



The Song's of the Battle-field. 315 

Thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. 

Salvation belongeth unto the Lord ; 

Thy blessing is upon thy people.” 

The forty-second and forty-third psalms are 
associated with the exciting aod depressing 
scenes by the Jordan, when the king’s com- 
pany crossed over in their flight before Ab- 
salom. 

The feelings uttered, and the allusions made, 
harmonize with the natural course of events at 
that critical period ; and the songs are very 
musical in their flow. 

When the rebellion was convulsino: the 
nation, and the father was compelled to act 
the warrior again, and summon his loyal 
troops, doubtless the full heart poured forth 
its conflicting emotions in the fifty-fifth psalm. 
The fearful revolt, the trembling, weary soul 
of the weeper, the scenes at the metropolis in 
the hands of the enemy, the defection and 
treachery of xVhithophel and others, the tran- 
sient prosperity of the wicked, confidence in 
God — all are there, swelling the song! 

“ Give ear to my prayer, O God, 

And hide not thyself from my supplication. 

Attend unto me, and hear me ; 


3 i 6 The Court and Cam^ of David. 


I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise, 

Because of the voice of the enemy, 

Because of the oppression of the wicked : 

For they cast iniquity upon me, 

And in wrath they hate me. 

My lieart is sore pained within me. 

And the terrors of death are fallen upon me. 

Tearfulness and trembling are come upon me. 

And horror hath overwhelmed me. 

And I said, O that I had wings like a dove ! 

For then would I fly away, and be at rest. 

Lo, then would I wander far off. 

And remain in the wilderness. 

I would hasten my escape 

From the windj^ storm and tempest. 

Destroy, 0 Lord, and divide their tongues ; 

For I have seen violence and strife in the city. 

Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof : 
Mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it. 

Wickedness is in the midst thereof : 

Deceit and guile depart not from her streets. 

For it was not an enemy that reproached me ; 

Then I could have borne it : 

Neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself 
against me ; 

Then I would have hid myself from him : 

But it was thou, a man mine equal. 

My guide, and mine acquaintance. 

We took sweet counsel together, 

And walked unto the house of God in company. 

Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick 
into hell: 


The Songs of the Battle-field., 317 

For wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them. 

As for me, I will call upon God ; 

And the Lord shall save me. 

Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry 
aloud : 

And he shall hear my voice. 

He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that 
was against me : 

Eor there were many with me. 

God shall hear, and afflict them. 

Even he that abideth of old. 

Because they have no changes. 

Therefore they fear not God. 

He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace 
with him : 

He hath broken his covenant. 

The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but 
war was in his heart ; 

His words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn 
swords. 

Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain 
thee ; 

He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. 

But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of 
destruction : 

Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days : 

But I will trust in thee.” 

Not long after, the "wilderness of Judah,” 
which lay along the eastern frontier of that 
tribe, echoed to softer notes, — of the soul’s 



3i8 The Court and Camf of David. 

longing after God as its chief good, and buoy- 
ant hope within the divine complacency. The 
dethroned king had just before been cursed 
and slandered, but he rejoiced in the certainty 
that silence and shame would seal the lying 
lips. 

“ O God, thou art my God ; 

Early will I seek thee : 

My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee 
In a dry and thirsty land, where no water is ; 

To see thy power and thy glory, 

So as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. 

Because thy loving-kindness is better than life, 

My lips shall praise thee. 

Thus will I bless thee while I live : 

I will lift up my hands in thy name. 

My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness ; 
And my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips : 

When I remember thee upon my bed, 

And meditate on thee in the night watches. 

Because thou hast been my help, 

Therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. 

My soul followeth hard after thee : • 

Thy right hand upholdeth me. 

But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, 

Shall go into the lower parts of the earth. 

They shall fall by the sword : 

They shall be a portion for foxes. 

But the king shall rejoice in God ; 

Every one that sweareth by him shall glory : 

But the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.” 


The Songs of the Battle-field. 319 

The third psalm is also believed to belong 
to the same period of civil war. 

The only dirge recorded, that David breathed 
over the slain Absalom, was the brief and 
thrilling lamentation, which has found a 
mournful response in many a parental heart 
since his day : 

“ O, my son Absalom! 

My son, my son Absalom ! 

Would God I had died for thee, 

0 Absalom, my son, my son I ” 



320 The Court and Cam^ of David, 


CHAPTER IV. 

THE PSALMS OF REDEMPTION AND OF 
CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

VERY song of the Psalmist was iden- 
tified with the kingdom and glory 
of God, and reflects some of the 
manifold aspects of spiritual life in 
the believer’s soul. 

But we shall contemplate a few of the 
psalms apart from the scenes of exile, of wan- 
dering, and of war, which sound through the 
ages of time, and around the globe, the notes 
of redemption through a promised Messiah ; 
and give a voice to the conflicts, griefs, and 
joys that attend the establishment of Irn- 
manual’s kingdom in the individual heart. 

The relation of David to Christ stands forth 
clearly iu the meridian glory of the gospel in 
the New Testament. Matthew begins with 

O 

the words, ”The book of the generation of 




The Psahns of Redemption. 321 

Jesus Christ, the son of Davitl, the son of 
Abraham.” How sublimely brief the statement 
of the Messiah’s genealogy, according to the 
flesh ! The eye is directed to Abraham, 
the "flither of the fliithful,” who spared not 
his first-born when God demanded the sacri- 
fice — the founder of the visible church; then 
to David the son of Jesse, whose regal power 
was the solitary fitting type of Christ’s spirit- 
ual kingdom ; and from the Hebrew monarch 
we look away to the Son of God, the Head 
of the church, and Lord of all ! 

There is a little disagreement between the 
reckoning of the descent by Matthew and 
Luke. AYe shall not give the various expla- 
nations of the difficulty, because it does not 
affect at all the great fact the apostles wished 
to establish, — that Jesus of Nazareth was 
descended from David. . Whether the differ- 
ences result from errors in copying names, 
or tracing two lines of genealogy, — one from 
Mary, the other from Joseph, — or from the 
relation of Joseph to Heli as the legal heir 
whlie he was the son of Jacob, it is not neces- 
sary to know. Neither the friends nor the foes 
of Christianity, in its early period, have left any 
21 



322 The Court and Camf of David, 

record of difficulty in the matter; while their 
silence, and that of Jesus, on the subject, is 
proof that the discrepancy was not important. 
It is yet another example of God’s indiflerence 
to human curiosity and disposition to cavil, 
regarding always essential truth and man’s 
salvation. 

It would have been strange indeed, had not 
the " sweet Psalmist of Israel” sung often of 
His reign, who was promised to be of the 
" house and lineage of David,” and of whom 
God had spoken through the eclipse of Eden, 
saying, ” The seed of the woman shall bruise 
the serpent’s head.” 

David led the Hebrew church to victory 
over external foes — those pagan nations that 
plotted its overthrow. While celebrating his 
own conquests he must sing of the triumph 
of Israel’s greater King, 'of whom, in the line 
of Hebrew royalty, he was spiritually John 
the Baptist. No other honor had David to be 
compared with this record : Jesus Christ the 
son of David.” 

The description of the happy man, viewed 
in the light of the old dispensation, which 
introduces the Psalms, is followed by an in- 


The Psahns of Redemftion. 323 

auguratioii hymn, composed by David when 
he was crowned at Jerusalem. It celebrates 
equally the exaltation of Christ, and declares 
the opposition to his reign both of Jew and 
Gentile. In this prophetic application the 
psalm is quoted by Peter and John, when prais- 
ing God amid the persecutions which arose at 
the Pentecostal work of the Holy Spirit. 

“ Why do the heathen rage, 

And the people imagine a vain thing? 

The kings of the earth set themselves, 

And the rulers take counsel together, 

Against the Lord, 

And against his Anointed, 

.Saying, Let us break their bands asunder. 

And cast away their cords from us. 

He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh : 

The Lord shall have them in derision. 

Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath. 

And vex them in his sore displeasure. 

Yet have I set my King 
Upon my holy hill of Zion. 

I will declare the decree : 

The Lord hath said unto me. Thou art my Son ; 

This day have I begotten thee. 

Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine in- 
heritance. 

And the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. 
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron ; 

Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. 



324 The Court and Camf of David, 

Be wise now therefore, O ye kings : 

Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. 

Serve tlie Lord with fear, 

And rejoice with trembling. 

Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way. 
When his wrath is kindled but a little. 

Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” 

A psalm of great sublimity was composed 
to celebrate the removal of the ark from the 
house of Obed-eclom to its tabernacle in Je- 
rusalem. "The singers, Heman, Asaph, and 
Ethan” were appointed to sound with cymbals 
of brass; and "Zechariah, Asiel, Shemira- 
moth, Jehiel, and Mattithiah, and Eliab, and 
Benaiah, and Obed-edom, Unni, and Eliab, 
and Maaseiah, and Beniah, with psalteries.” 
Others excelled on the harp. In front of the 
ark walked the priests, whose silver trumpets 
led the choral symphony rising above the re- 
joicing host. 

Zacharias, tlie father of John the Baptist, 
in his hymn of praise at the birth of the Re- 
deemer’s herald, quotes the words of the cove- 
nant mentioned by David, transferring the 
language of the old to the new dispensation. 

From the line, — 

“ Sing unto the Lord a new song,” — 



The Psalms of Redemption. 325 

the psalm has, by common consent of Jew and 
Christian, been regarded as an anthem of 
praise to the Lamb, before whom the exile 
on solitary Patmos saw the ” elders fall down, 
having every one of them harps, and golden 
vials fidl of odors, which are the prayers of 
the saints. And they sang a new song.” 

In the ecstatic strain there is a wonderful 
view of the Messiah’s kingdom amonof men. 
The singer apparently saw the missionaries of 
the cross preaching Jesus under the shadow of 
pagan temples, and heard the swelling music 
of redemption rising from the green islands of 
the ocean. 

“ O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon his name : 

Make known his deeds among the people. 

Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him ; 

Talk ye of all his wondrous works. 

Glory ye in his holy name : 

Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. 

Seek the Lord, and his strength : 

Seek his face evermore. 

Remember his marvellous works that he hath done, 

His wonders, and the judgments of his mouth, 

O ye seed of Abraham his servant. 

Ye children of Jacob his chosen. 

He is the Lord our God : 

. His judgments are in all the earth. 

He hath remembered his covenant forever, 



326 The Court and Cam-p of David. 

The word which he commanded to a thousand generations. 
Which covenant he made with Abraham, 

And his oath unto Isaac ; 

And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, 

And to Israel for an everlasting covenant. 

Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, 

The lot of your inheritance : 

When they were but a few men in number ; 

Yea, very few, and strangers in it. 

When they went from one nation to another, 

From one kingdom to another people. 

He suffered no man to do them wTong ; 

Yea, he reproved kings for their sakes, 

Saying, Touch not mine anointed. 

And do my prophets no harm. 

O, sing unto the Lord a new song ; 

Sing unto the Lord, all the earth. 

Sing unto the Lord, bless his name ; 

Show forth his salvation from day to day. 

Declare his glory among the heathen. 

His wonders among all people. 

For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised : 

He is to be feared above all gods. 

For all the gods of the nations are idols : 

But the Lord made the heavens. 

Honor and majesty are before him : 

Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. 

Give unto the Lord, 0 ye kindreds of the people. 

Give unto the Lord glory and strength. 

Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name : 

Bring an offering, and come into his courts. 

O, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness : 

Fear before him, all the earth. 



The Psalms of Redem-ption, 327 

Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth : 

The world also shall be established that it shall not be moved : 
He shall judge the people righteously. 

Let the heavens rejoice, 

And let the earth be glad; 

Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof. 

Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein : 

Then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord ; 
For he cometh. 

For he cometh to judge the earth. 

Save us, O Lord our God, 

And gather us from among the heathen. 

To give thanks unto thy holy name. 

And to triumph in thy praise. 

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to ever- 
lasting : 

And let all the people say. Amen. 

Praise ye the Lord.” 

There is a song of dedication full of touch- 
ing history. It was sung over the ashes 
of sacrifice after the destroying angel had 
sheathed his sword of retribution, drawn be- 
cause David had numbered the people. The 
oflTering marked the site of Solomon’s temple ; 
and the king worthily commemorated the dis- 
cipline and the favor of God. 

“ I will extol thee, O Lord; for thou hast lifted me up. 

And hast not made my foes to rejoice over me. 

O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed 


me. 


328 The Court and Cam-p of David. 


0 Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave : 

Thou hast kept me alive, 

That I should not go down to the pit. 

Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his. 

And give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. 

For his anger endureth but a moment ; 

In his favor is life : 

Weeping may endure for a night, 

But joy cometh in the morning. 

And in my prosperity I said, 

1 shall never be moved. 

Lord, by thy favor thou hast made my mountain to stand 
strong : 

Thou didst hide thy face. 

And I was troubled. 

I cried to thee, 0 Lord ; 

And unto the Lord I made supplication. 

What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? 
Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth? 

Hear, 0 Lord, and have mercy upon me : 

Lord, be thou my helper. 

Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: 

Thou hast put off my sackcloth, 'and girded me with glad- 
ness ; 

To the end tliat my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be 
silent. 

0 Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee forever.” 

The charge to the peo[)le respecting the 
grand enterprise, and the whole procedure of 
both the king and his subjects, make an un- 
rivalled example of the spirit and the activity 



Gifts for the Temple. Page 321). 









The Psalms of Redemption, 329 

which will, always and everywhere, insure suc- 
cess in the enterprise of temple-building. It 
should have a place next to this song of con- 
secration. 

"Furthermore David the king said unto all 
the congregation, Solomon my son, whom 
alone God hath chosen, is yet young and 
tender, and the work is great ; for the palace 
is not for man, but for the Lord God. Now 
I have prepared with all my might for the 
house of ray God the gold for things to be 
made of gold, and the silver for things of sil- 
ver, and the brass for things of brass, the iron 
for things of iron, and wood for things of 
wood ; onyx-stones, and stones to be set, 
glistering stones, and of divers colors, and all 
manner of precious stones, and marble stones 
in Jibundance. Moreover, because I have set 
my affection to the house of my God, I have 
of mine own proper good, of gold and silver, 
which I have given to the house of my God, 
over and above all that I have prepared for 
the holy house, even three thousand talents 
of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thou- 
sand talents of refined silver, to overlay the 
walls of the houses withal ; the gold for things 


330 The Court and Cam^ of David, 

of gold, and the silver for things of silver, 
and for all manner of work to be made by the 
hands of artificers. And who then is ^\hlling 
to consecrate his service this day unto the 
Lord ? 

” Then the chief of the fathers and princes of 
the tribes of Israel, and the captains of thou- 
sands and of hundreds, with the rulers of the 
king’s work, oftered willingly, and gave for 
the service of the house of God of gold five 
thousand talents and ten thousand drams, and 
of silver ten thousand talents, and of brass 
eighteen thousand talents, and one hundred 
thousand talents of iron. And they with 
whom precious stones were found gave them 
to the treasure of the house of the Lord, by 
the hand of Jehiel the Gershonite. Then the 
people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, 
because with perfect heart they olfered will- 
ingly to the Lord ; and David the king also 
rejoiced with great joy. 

"Wherefore David blessed the Lord before 
all the congregation ; and David said. Blessed 
be thou. Lord God of Israel our father, forever 
and ever. Thine, 0 Lord, is the greatness, and 
the power, and the glory, and the victory, and 


The Psalms of Redemption, 331 

the majesty : for all that is in the heaven and 
in the earth is thine ; thine is the kingdom, O 
Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. 
Both riches and honor come of thee, and thou 
reignest over all ; and in thy hand is power 
and might ; and in thy hand it is to make 
great, and to give strength unto all. Now, 
therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise 
thy glorious name. But who am I, and what 
is my people, that we should be able to olfer 
so willingly after this sort? for all things 
come of thee, and of thine own have we. given 
thee. For we are strangers before thee, and 
sojourners, as were all our fathers ; our days 
on the earth are as a shadow, and there is 
none abiding. O Lord our God, all this store 
that we have prepared to build thee a house 
for thy holy name cometh of th}^ hand, and is 
all thine own. I know also, my God, that 
thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in up- 
rightness. As for me, in the uprightness of 
my heart I have willingly oflered all these 
things ; and now have I seen with joy thy peo- 
ple, which are present here, to otfer willingly 
unto thee. O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, 
and of Israel, our fathers, keep this forever 



332 The Court and Camj) of David, 

in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart 
of thj people, and prepare their heart unto 
thee ; and give unto Solomon my son a per- 
fect heart, to keep thy commandments, thy 
testimonies, and thy statutes, and to do all 
these things, and to build the palace, for the 
which I have made provision. 

”Aiid David said to all the congregation, 
Now bless the Lord your God. And all the 
coui^re^ation blessed the Lord God of their 

o o 

fathers, and bowed down their heads and ^vor- 
shipped the Lord and the king.” 

Six of the psalms are called penitential : 
their burden is the unfeigned sorrow of his 
heart on account of that great enemy of 
God and the human soul, for whose atonement 
David knew the Messiah — the Lamb of God 
— was to come. 

These are the sixth, thirty-second, thirty- 
eighth, the fifty -first, one hundred and second, 
and the one hundred and thirtieth. The vari- 
ety in shades of grief, and then’ expression, 
lend to their reading, in connection, a tearful 
interest. We shall introduce them in order. 
They are the agonizing cries of the sinful 
heart, crushed, bleeding, and yet hopeful 


333 


The Psalms of Redemption. 

under the felt rebuke of a holy yet patient 
God ; while, f(jr importunate pleading and 
sobbing confession, the fifty-first stands alone : 
it is the universal voice of the prodigal in the 
dust at his forgiving Father’s feet. 

“ O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, 

Neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. 

Have mercy upon me, O Lord ; for I am weak : 

0 Lord, heal me ; for my bones are vexed. 

My soul is also sore vexed : 

But thou, O Lord, how long? 

Return, 0 Lord, deliver my soul : 

0 save me for thy mercies’ sake. 

For in death there is no remembrance of thee : 

In the grave who shall give thee thanks? 

1 am weary with my groaning ; 

All the night make I my bed to swim ; 

I water my couch with my tears. 

Mine eye is consumed because of grief ; 

It waxeth old because of all mine enemies. 

Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity ; 

For the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping. 

The Lord hath heard my supplication ; 

The Lord will receive my prayer. 

Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed : 

Let them return and be ashamed suddenly.” 

“ Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven. 

Whose sin is covered. 

Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not 
iniquity, 


334 Court and Camj> of David, 

And in whose spirit there is no guile. 

When I kept silence, my bones waxed old 
Through my roaring all the day long. 

For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me : 

My moisture is turned into the drought of summer. 

I acknowledge my sin unto thee, 

And mine iniquity have I not hid. 

I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord ; 
And thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. 

For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee 
In a time when thou mayest be found : 

Surely in the floods of great waters 
They shall not come nigh unto him. 

Thou art my hiding-place ; 

Thou shalt preserve me from trouble ; 

Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. 
I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou 
shalt go : 

I will guide thee with mine eye. 

Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no 
understanding : 

Whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle. 

Lest they come near unto thee. 

Many sorrows shall be to the wicked : 

But he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass 
him about. 

Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous : 

And shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.” 

“ O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath : 

Neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. 

For thine arrows stick fast in me. 



The Psalms of Redemption. 335 

And thy hand presseth me sore. 

There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; 
Neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. 

For mine iniquities are gone over mine head : 

As an heavy burden they are too heavy for me, 

My wounds stink, and are corrupt 
Because of my foolishness. 

I am troubled ; I am bowed down greatly ; 

I go mourning all the day long. 

For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease : 

And there is no soundness in my flesh. 

I am feeble and sore broken : 

I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart. 

Lord, all my desire is before thee ; 

And my groaning is not hid from thee. 

My heart panteth, my strength faileth me : 

As for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me. 

My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore ; 

And my kinsmen stand afar off". 

They also that seek after my life lay snares for me ; 

And they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and 
imagine deceits all the day long. 

But I, as a deaf man, heard not ; 

And I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth. 

Thus I was as a man that heareth not. 

And in whose mouth are no reproofs. 

For in thee, 0 Lord, do I hope : 

Thou wilt hear, O Lord my God. 

For I said. Hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice 
over me : 

When my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against 
me. 



33 ^ The Court and Cam^ of David. 


For I am ready to halt, 

And my sorrow is continually before me. 

For I will declare mine iniquity ; 

I will be sorry for my sin. 

But mine enemies are lively, and they are strong : 

And they that hate me wrongfully, are multiplied. 

They also that render evil for good 
Are mine adversaries : 

Because I follow the thing that good is. 

Forsake me not, O Lord : 

O my God, be not far from me. 

Make haste to help me, 

0 Lord my salvation.” 

“ Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving- 
kindness : 

According unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot 
out my transgressions. 

Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, 

And cleanse me from my sin. 

For I acknowledge my transgressions : 

And my sin is ever before me. 

Against thee, thee only, have I sinned. 

And done this evil in thy sight : 

That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, 

And be clear when thou judgest. 

Behold, I was shapen in iniquity ; 

And in sin did my mother conceive me. 

Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts : 

And in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know 
wisdom. 

Burge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean : 

Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 


The Psalms of Rede 7 n^tio 7 i. 337 

Make me to hear joy and gladness ; 

That the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. 

Hide thy face from my sins, 

And blot out all mine iniquities. 

Create in me a clean heart, 0 God, 

And renew a right spirit within me. 

Cast me not away from thy presence ; 

And take not thy Holy Spirit from me. 

Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation ; 

And uphold me with thy free spirit. 

Then will I teach transgressors thy ways ; 

And sinners shall be converted unto thee. 

Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of 
my salvation : 

And my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. 

0 Lord, open thou my lips ; 

And my mouth shall show forth thy praise. 

For thou desirest not sacrifice ; else would I give it : 

Thou delightest not in burnt-offering. 

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit : 

A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. 

Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion : 

Built thou the walls of Jerusalem. 

Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifice of righteous- 
ness, with burnt-offering and whole burnt-offering : 
Then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.” 

“ Hear my prayer, O Lord, 

And let my cry come unto thee. 

Hide not thy face from me 

In the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear 
unto me : 

In the day when I call, answer me speedily. 

22 



338 The Court and Cani^ of David, 


For my clays are consumed like smoke, 

And my bones are burned as a heartli. 

My heart is smitten, and withered like grass ; 

So that I forget to eat my bread. 

By reason of the voice of my groaning. 

My bones cleave to my skin. 

I am like a pelican of the wilderness : 

I am like an owl of the desert. 

I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the, housetop. 

Mine enemies reproach me all the day ; 

And they that are mad against me are sworn against me. 

For I have eaten ashes like bread. 

And mingled my drink with weeping. 

Because of thine indignation and thy wrath ; 

For thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down. 

My days are like a shadow that declineth ; 

And I am withered like grass. 

But thou, O Lord, shalt endure forever; 

And thy remembrance unto all generations. 

Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion : 

For the time to ftxvor her, yea, the set time, is come. 

For thy servants take pleasure in her stones. 

And favor the dust thereof. 

So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord : 

And all the kings of the earth thy glory. 

When the Lord shall build up Zion, 

He shall appear in his glory. 

He will regard the prayer of the destitute, 

And not despise their prayer. 

This shall be written for the generation to come. 

.And the people which shall be created shall praise the 
Lord. 


The Psalms of Redemption. 339 

For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary ; 
From heaven did the Lord behold the earth ; 

To hear the groaning of the prisoner ; 

To loose those that are appointed to death ; 

To declare the name of the Lord in Zion, 

And his praise in Jerusalem ; 

When the people are gathered together, 

And the kingdoms, to serve the Lord. 

He weakened my strength in the way ; 

He shortened my days. 

I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my 
days : 

Thy years are throughout all generations. 

Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth : 

And the lieavens are the work of thy hands. 

They sliall perish, but thou shalt endure : 

Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; 

As a vesture shalt thou change them. 

And they shall be changed : 

But thou art the same. 

And thy years shall have no end. 

The children of thy servants shall continue. 

And their seed shall be established before thee.” 

“ Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. 

Lord, hear my voice : 

Let thine ears be attentive 
To the voice of my supplications. 

If thou. Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, 

0 Lord, who shall stand ? 

But there is forgiveness with thee. 

That thou mayest be feared. 



340 The Court and Ca7nf of David, 

I wait for the Lord, 

My soul doth wait, 

And in his word do I hope. 

My soul waiteth for the Lord 

More than they that watch for the morning : 

I say, more than they that watch for the morning. 

Let Israel hope in the Lord : 

For with the Lord there is mercy. 

And with him is plenteous redemption. 

And he shall redeem Israel 
From all his iniquities.” 

There is a small volume of biography, writ- 
ten by a distinguished divine, which is a 
striking illustration of the adaptation of this 
psalm to all the deepest experiences of repent- 
ance. A negro, gifted by nature with unusual 
intellect, was bribed to murder. Sentenced 
to the state prison for life, he had time for 
sober reflection. He learned to read, and be- 
gan the study of the Bible. The copy of the 
living oracles he used is still preserved. The 
tifty-flrst psalm is enamelled by the pressure 
of the convict’s finger, as he repeatedly read, 
word by word, the confession, especially the 
prayer for deliverance from ” blood-guilti- 
ness.” He became so humble and holy he 
was pardoned, and, when he died, mourned 
by the whole community in which he lived. 



The Psalms of Redemftion, 341 

AVhat a bold and fearless rebuke of tyrants 
and unjust judges is the eighty-second psalm ! 
No testimony left to the world could more 
clearly establish David’s essential integrity 
and magnanimity of character. 

The one hundred and nineteenth might be 
called the Bible psalm. It is a profound, 
practical, and loving song of meditations 
upon the Scriptures. It is divided into 
parts equal in number to the letters of the 
Hebrew alphabet, and marked by them, to 
assist the memory. The blessedness of the 
devout student of the Bible, and how to read 
this holy volume, are urged with tender ear- 
nestness and great beauty of language. 

It is the more striking, when we reflect upon 
the small manuscript Bible the Hebrews then 
possessed, and that, without the story of the 
cross, over which the devout monarch would 
have bowed with rapture, singing, as Isaiah 
prophesied of the Redeemer, with solitary 
grandeur and sweetness. 

From the one hundred and forty-fifth psalm 
to the close of the psalter, the songs are a 
swelling strain of praise to God, the Almighty 
King. Of these we select the last but two, 



342 The Court and Ca^nf of David. 


because of its wonderful comprehensiveness, 
sweeping the whole circle of creation for 
voices of thanksgiving to the Lord of all. It 
reminds us of Job’s eloquent enumeration of 
God’s mighty works, from Orion and the Ple- 
iades flashing on the nightly dome, to the 
” crooked serpent” in the dust of earth. We 
think it will interest youthful readers, at 
least, to have, in connection with this psalm, 
a flue paraplirase of it, written by the distin- 
guished Dr. Ogilvie, when only sixteen years 
of age. We doubt not that he sings now, 
with David, in glory eternal, — 

“ Praise ye the Lord. 

Praise ye the Lord from the heavens : 

Praise him in the heights. 

Praise ye him, all his angels : 

Praise ye him, all his hosts. 

Praise ye him, sun and moon : 

Praise him, all ye stars of light. 

Praise him, ye heavens of heavens. 

And ye waters that be above the heavens. 

Let him praise the name of the Lord : 

For he commanded, and they were created. 

He hath also established them forever and ever ; 

He hath made a decree whicli shall not pass. 

Praise the Lord from the earth, . 

Ye dragons, and all deeps. 


The Psalms of Redemption. 

Fire and hail ; snow and vapor : 

Stormy wind fulfilling his word : 
Mountains, and all hills ; 

Fruitful trees, and all cedars ; 

Beasts, and all cattle ; 

Creeping things, and flying fowl : 

Kings of the earth, and all people ; 
Princes, and all judges of the earth : 
Both young men and maidens ; 

Old men, and children : 

Let them praise the name of the Lord : 
For his name alone is excellent; 

His glory is above the earth and heaven. 
He also exalteth the horn of his people. 
The praise of all his saints ; 

Even of the children of Israel, 

A people near unto him. 

Praise .ye the Lord.” 

Begin, my soul, th’ exalted lay. 

Let each enraptured thought obey, 

And praise the Almighty’s name. 

Lo ! heaven and earth, and seas and skies, 
In one melodious concert rise, 

To swell th’ inspiring theme. 

Ye fields of light, celestial plains. 

Where gay transporting beauty reigns. 

Ye scenes divinely fair. 

Your Maker’s wondrous power proclaim. 
Tell how he formed your shining frame. 
And breathed the fluid air. 



344 Court mid Cmn^ of David. 


Ye angels, catch the thrilling sound; 

While all th’ adoring thrones around 
His boundless mercy sing ; 

Let every listening saint above 

Wake all the tuneful soul of love, 

And touch the sweetest string. 

Join, ye loud spheres, the vocal choir; 

Thou, dazzling orb of liquid fire. 

The mighty chorus aid : 

Soon as gray evening gilds the plain. 

Thou, moon, protract the melting strain, 
And praise him in the shade. 

Thou, heaven of heavens, his vast abode, 

Ye clouds, proclaim your forming God, 
Who called yon worlds from night ; 

‘Ye shades, dispel! ’ th’ Eternal said; 

At once th’ involving darkness fled. 

And nature sprung to light. . 

Whate’er a blooming world contains. 

That wings the air, that skims the plains. 
United praise bestow : 

Ye dragons, sound his awful name 

To heaven aloud ; and roar acclaim. 

Ye swelling deeps below. 

Let every element rejoice : 

Ye thunders, burst with awful voice 
To him who bids you roll : 

His praise in softer notes declare. 

Each whispering breeze of yielding air, 
And breathe it to the soul. 


The Psalms of Rede 7 nftion, 345 

To him, ye graceful cedars, bow ; 

Ye towering mountains,' bending low, 

Your great Creator own : 

Tell, when affrighted nature shook. 

How Sinai kindled at his look, 

And trembled at his frown. 

Ye flocks that haunt the humble vale. 

Ye insects fluttering on the gale. 

In mutual concourse rise ; 

Crop the gay rose’s vermeil bloom. 

And waft its spoils, a sweet perfume. 

In incense to the skies. 

Wake, all ye mountain tribes, and sing; 

Ye plumy warblers of the spring. 

Harmonious anthems raise 
To him, who shaped your finer mould. 

Who tipped your glittering wings of gold. 

And tuned your voice to praise. 

Let man, by nobler passions swayed. 

The feeling heart, the judging head. 

In heavenly praise employ ; 

Spread his tremendous name around. 

Till heaven’s broad arch rings back the sound, 

The general burst of joy. 

Ye, whom the charms of grandeur please, 

Nursed on the downy lap of ease. 

Fall prostrate at his throne; 

Ye princes, rulers, all adore; 

Praise him ye kings, who makes your power 
An image of his own. 



34^ The Court and Cam^ of David, 


Ye fair, by nature formed to move, 

O praise the eternal Source of love, 

With youth’s enlivening fire. 

Let age take up the tuneful lay. 

Sigh his blessed name — then soar away. 

And ask an angel’s lyre.” 

There is a single psalm — the seventy-sec- 
ond — dedicated by David to his successor 
and gifted son, Solomon. It predicts his 
peaceful and splendid reign, and gives, in 
connection with it, a vision of Christ’s coming 
and kingdom. The psalm is one of rare 
beauty of imagery, and full of comforting 
truths to the Christian. 

“ Give the king thy judgments, O God, 

And thy righteousness unto the king’s son. 

He shall judge thy people with righteousness, 

And thy poor with.judgment. 

The mountains shall bring peace to the people, 

And the little hills, by righteousness. 

He shall judge the poor of the people, 

He shall save the children of the needy, and shall break 
in pieces the oppressor. 

They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, 
Throughout all generations. 

He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass : 

As showers that water the earth. 

In his days shall the righteous flourish ; 

And abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth.. 


The Psalms of Redemption. 347 

He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, 

And from the river unto the ends of the earth. 

They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him 
And his enemies shall lick the dust. 

Ihe kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring 
presents : 

The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. 

Yea, all kings shall fall down before him : 

All nations shall serve him. 

For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; 

The poor also, and him that hath no helper. 

He shall spare the poor and needy. 

And shall save the souls of the needy. 

He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence : 

And precious shall their blood be in his sight. 

And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of 
Sheba : 

Prayer also shall be made for him continually ; and daily 
shall he be praised. 

There shall be a handful of corn in the earth 
Upon the top of the mountains : 

The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon : 

And they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. 
His name shall endure forever : 

His name shall be continued as long as the sun : 

And men shall be blessed in him : 

All nations shall .call him blessed. 

Blessed be tlie Lord God, 

The God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. 

And blessed be his glorious name forever : 

And let the whole earth be filled with his glory. 

Amen and Amen.” 


34^ The Court and Camf of David. 

Bishop Horne eloquently says of the con- 
nection of the psalms with Christ, "This 
little volume, like the paradise of Eden, 
affords us in perfection, though in miniature, 
everything that groweth elsewhere, 'every 
tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good 
for food,’ and, above all, what was there lost, 
but is here restored — THE TREE OF LIFE 
IN THE MIDST OF THE GARDEN. 

" And it appears to have been the manual 
of the Son of God in the days of his flesh, 
who, at the conclusion of his last supper, is 
generally supposed, and that upon good 
grounds, to have sung a hymn taken from 
it ; who pronounced on the cross the begin- 
ning of psalm twentj^-second — 'Mj^God, my 
God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ and expired 
with a part of psalm thirty-first in his mouth 
— ' Into thy hands I commend my spirit.’ 
Thus He who had not the Spirit by measure, 
in whom were hidden all the treasures of wis- 
dom and knowledge, and who spake as man 
never spake, yet chose to conclude his life, to 
solace himself in his greatest agony, and, at 
last, to breathe out his soul in the Psalmist’s 
words rather than his own. No tomrue of 


349 


The Psalms of Redemption, 

man or angel, as Dr. Hammond justly ob- 
serves, can convey a higher idea of any book, 
and of their felicity who use it aright.” 

Eespecting that hymn in the ” upper 
room,” perhaps not far from the very spot 
where David’s palace stood, who has not 
wondered what it was, and whether Jesus 
joined iu his own sacramental dirge? 

The custom of the Jews to sing at the pass- 
over from psalm one hundred and thirteenth 
to the one hundred and eighteenth inclusive, 
sheds some light on the touching inquiry. 
Certainly the hundred and sixteenth is a 
strain the Savior might have appropriate!}^ 
chosen for that occasion of mingled joy and 
grief, with Gethsemane and Calvary in near 
prospect ! 

In the sixth chapter of Hebrews the eighth 
psalm is quoted with reference to the Mes- 
siah’s supremacy. In Eomans fifteenth, the 
forty-ninth verse of the eighteenth psalm is 
introduced, and the nineteenth, in the tenth 
chapter of the same Epistle. 

Paul, ill Hebrews tenth, quotes from the 
fortieth psalm, and in the fourth and fifth 
chapters from the ninety-fifth. 


350 The Court mid Cam-p of David. 

Matthew gives a reason why Jesus spake 
to the multitude in parables from the sevent}^- 
eighth psalm ; and Jesus himself cites the 
hundred and tenth psalm in Matthew twenty- 
second as referring to his exaltation and 
reign. 

Again, in John eighteenth, the Savior goes 
to the forty-first psalm for a prediction of the 
cruel betrayal by Judas. On the great day 
of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit’s harvest 
work was inaugurated, ‘the hundred and 
thirty-second psalm gives point to the apos- 
tolic appeal. It is affirmed that David knew 
and wrote of the Messiah which was to come, 
crowning his work of redemption by his resur- 
rection from the dead. 

But we must leave the admirer of Hebrew 
poetry and friend of Jesus, to his own study 
of the Messianic Psalms. 

We turn, with a sigh of regret, from the 
hallowed UtIcs. 

The great biblical critic Kitto laments 
justly that the literary charms of the sacred 
oracles are so generally overlooked. The 
reasons are, man’s natural aversion to the 
solemn truths which they present, the idea 


The Psalms of Redemption. 351 

that inspiration excludes the Scriptures from 
the walks of general literature, and the 
"vicious education” which the leading minds 
receive. 

Gifted but irreligious men "eye the sacred 
volume askance,” as if it were an enemy ; and 
the culture of all our schools scarcely recog- 
nizes it, ill comparison with other ancient 
classics. 

The prevailing education of the day, from 
" early youth to manhood, is almost entirely of 
a heathen complexion. Greek and Latin, not 
Hebrew, engage the attention; Homer and 
Horace, not Moses and Isaiah, are our class- 
books, skill in understanding which is made 
the passport to wealth and distinction.” 

The poetical portions of the Scriptures, in 
connection with the wonderful scenes related, 
have furnished the materials for the greatest 
productions of modern bards. Had not Moses 
written his annals of a blighted Eden, Milton 
would never have given the world " Paradise 
Lost.” The same is true of other poems 
which have immortalized their authors, — the 
facts and fire they contain were borrowed 
from the exhaustlcss treasures of revelation. 



352 The Court and Cantf of David, 

The Bible has created the highest civiliza- 
tion of the world, embalmed its best litera- 
ture, and is 3^et to have "its controlling 
influence in the culture and commerce of the 
globe.” 

We add a few eloquent quotations from 
distinguished writers, not because the Bible 
needs their vindication or eulogy, but to 
direct the attention of readers, who, per- 
haps, have overlooked the "literary attrac- 
tions ” of the Book of Life, to its appreeiation 
by gifted minds. 

Schlegel, the great German, says, "These 
writings form a fiery and godlike fountain of 
inspiration, of which the greatest of modern 
poets have never been weary of drinking ; 
which has suggested to them their noblest 
images, and animated them for their sublim- 
est flights.” 

Inquires the no less able Englishman, Cow- 
ley, " What can we imagine more proper for 
the ornaments of wit or learning in the story 
of Deucalion than in that of Noah? W^hy will 
not the actions of Samson afford as plentiful 
matter as the labors of Hercules? Why is 
not Jephtha’s daughter as good a woman as 


The Psalms of Redem-ption, 353 

Iphigenia? And the friendship of David and 
Jonathan more worthy celebration than that 
of Theseus and Besethons? Does not the 
passage of Moses and the Israelites into the 
Holy Land yield incomparably more poetical 
variety than the voyages of Ulysses or iEneas ? 
Are the obsolete, threadbare tales of Thebes 
and Troy half so stored with great histor- 
ical and supernatural actions as the Tvars of 
Joshua, of the Judges, and of divers others? 
Can all the transformations of the gods give 
such copious hints to flourish and expatiate 
on as the true miracles of Christ, or of his 
prophets and apostles?” 

Writes the fiery and erratic Scotchman, Gil- 
fillan, of the one hundred and fourth psalm, 
" It is said by Humboldt to present a picture 
of the entire Cosmos; and he adds, 'We are 
astonished to see, within the compass of a 
poem of such small dimensions, the universe, 
the heavens, and the earth, drawn with a 
few grand strokes.’ Its touches are indeed 
few, rapid — but how comprehensive and sub- 
lime ! Is it God? — he is 'clothed with light 
as with a garment,’ and when he takes his 
morning or his evening walk, it is on the 
23 



354 Court and Cam^ of David. 

' vvinofs of the wind.’ The winds or lis^ht- 
nings? — they are his messengers or angels: 
'Stop us not,’ they seem to say, 'the King’s 
business requireth haste.’ The waters? — the 
poet shows them in flood, covering the face 
of the earth, and then as they now lie, en- 
closed within their embankments, to break 
forth no more forever. The springs? — he 
traces them by one inspired glance, as they 
run among the hills, as they give drink to the 
wild and lonely creatures of the wilderness, 
as they nourish the boughs on which sing the 
birds, the grass on which feed the cattle, the 
herb, the corn, the olive tree, and the vine, 
which All the mouth, cheer the heart, and 
radiate round the face of man. Then he 
skims with bold wing all lofty objects — the 
trees of the Lord on Lebanon, 'full of sap;’ 
the fir-trees, and the storks which are upon 
them ; the high hills, with their wild goats, 
and the rocks, with their conies. Then he 
soars up to the heavenly bodies — the sun and 
the moon. Then he spreads abroad his wings 
in the darkness of the night, which 'hideth 
not from him,’ and hears the beasts of the 
forest creeping abroad to seek their prey, and 


The Psalms of Redemption. 3^^ 

the roar of the lions to God for meat, coniino’ 
up, vast and hollow, like embodied sound, 
upon the winds of midnight. Then, as he 
sees the shades and the wild beasts heeino- 

o 

together, in emulous haste, from the presence 
of the morning sun, and man, strong and 
calm in its light as in the smile of God, hie- 
ing to his labor, he exclaims, ^ O Lord, how 
manifold are thy works! in wisdop thou hast 
mjide them all ! ’ He casts next one look at 
the ocean — a look glancing at the ships 
which go there, at the Leviathan which plays 
there; and then, piercing down to the innu- 
merable creatures, small and great, which are 
found below its unlifted veil of waters*. He 
sees, then, all the beings, peopling alike earth 
and sea, waiting for life and food around the 
table of their Divine Master — nor waiting in 
vain — till lo ! he hides his face, and they are 
troubled, die, and disappear in chaos and 
night. A gleam, next, of the great resur- 
rections of nature and of man comes across 
his eye. ^Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they 
are created, and thou renewest the face of the 
earth.’ But a greater truth still succeeds, and 
forms the climax of the psalm (a truth Hum- 



35^ The Court and Camj> of David. 

boldt, with all his admiration of it, notices 
not, and which gives a Christian tone to the 
whole) — ' The Lord shall rejoice in his 
works.' He contemplates a yet more per- 
fect Cosmos. He is 'to consume sinners’ 
and sin 'out of’ this fair universe; and then, 
when man is wholly worthy of his dwelling, 
shall God say of both it and him, with a yet 
deeper emphasis than when he said it at first, 
and smiling, at the same time, a yet warmer 
and softer smile, 'It is very good.’ And with 
an ascription of blessing to the Lord does the 
poet close this almost angelic descant upon the 
works of nature, the glory of God, and the 
prospects of man. It is not merely the unity 
of the Cosmos that he has displayed in it, but 
its progression, as connected with the parallel 
progress of man ; its thorough dependence on 
one Infinite Mind ; the ' increasing purpose ’ 
which runs along it ; and its final purification, 
when it shall blossom into the ' bright consum- 
mate flower ’ of the new heavens and the new 
earth ' whei 3in dvvelleth righteousness,’ — this 
is the real burden, and the peculiar glory of 
the one hundred and fourth psalm. We 
say not that the beauty of Scripture ever 


The Psalms of Redemption, 357 

did or ever can convert a soul, but it 
may often have attracted men to those means 
of spiritual influence where conversion is 
to be found. The leaves, not the flowers, 
of the tree of life, are for the healing of 
the nations ; but surely the flowers have 
often first fascinated the eye of the wan- 
derer, and led him near to eat and live. 
'VYhen Christianity arose, it * streamed,’ says 
Eusebius, ^over the face of the earth like a 
sunbeam ; ’ and men were too much struck by 
its novelty, its bright and blessed revelations, 
its adaptation to their wants, to think much 
of the lovely hues, and soft charms, and 
lofty graces, by which it was surrounded. 
It is very different now, when it needs a 
perception of all those subsidiary attractions 
to induce multitudes of the refined and intel- 
lectual to devote due investigation to its 
claims. 

" And besides such direct effects of Scrip- 
ture poetry in drawing men to inquire into 
Scripture truth, and in confirming Christians 
in their attachment to it, there is a silent but 
profound indirect moral power wielded by it 
in the world. It has refined society, softened 



358 The Court and Canif of David, 

the human heart, promoted deference and 
respect to woman, and tenderness to children, 
cleansed to a great degree the temple of our 
literature, and especially of our poetry and 
fiction ; denounced licentiousness, while in- 
culcating forgiveness and pity to those led 
astray, and riotous living, while smiling upon 
social intercourse ; suspended the terrors of 
its final judgment over high as well as low, 
over the sins of the heart as well as of the 
conduct, over rich and respectable children 
of hell as well as over the devil’s pariahs and 
poor slaves, and has branded such public 
enormities as war, slavery, and capital pun- 
ishments with the inexpiable mark of its 
spirit, and is destroying them by the breath 
of its power. We say Scripture poetry has 
done all this ; for how feeble and ineffectual 
had been mere enactments and precepts, com- 
pared with the poems in which the gospel 
principles have been inscribed, the parables 
in which they have been incarnated — com- 
pared to such living scenes as Jesus holding 
up a child in the midst of his disciples, or 
saying to the woman taken in adultery, 'Go 
and sin no more ; ’ or commending his mother 


359 


The Psalms of Redenftion. 

to his beloved disciple from the cross, or 
turning water into wine at Cana, or feasting 
with publicans and sinners ; or to such pic- 
tures as Dives tormented in that flame, or of 
Christ seated on the great white throne ; or 
to such denunciations as his reverberated 
woes against the formalists and hard-hearted 
professors of his day ! If our antiquated 
Jerichos of evil be tottering, and have al- 
ready, to some extent, tottered down, it is 
owing to the shout of poetic attack with 
which the genius of Christianity has been 
so lonof assailing? them.” 

”In the nineteenth century, all our great 
British authors have more or less imbibed the 
fire from the Hebrew fountains. There had 
been, in the mean time, a reaction in the favor 
of them, as well as of other things 'old.’ For 
fifty years the Bible, like its author, had been 
exposed on a cross to public ignominy ; gigan- 
tic apes, like Voltaire, chattering at it; men 
of genius turned, by some Circean spell, into 
swine, like Mirabeau and Paine, casting filth 
against it; demoniacs, whom it had half-res- 
cued and half-inspired, like Rousseau, making 
mouths in its face ; till, as darkness blotted 


360 The Court and Camf of David, 

out the heaven above, and an earthquake 
shook Europe around, and all things seemed 
rushing into ruin, men began to feel, as they 
did on Calvary, that this was all for Christ’s 
sake; and they trembled: and what their 
brethren there could not or did not, they 
stopped ere it was too late. The authors of 
the sacrilege, indeed, were dead or hopelessly 
hardened, but their followers paused in time; 
and the mind of the civilized world was 
shaken back into an attitude of respect, if 
not of belief, in the Book of Jesus.” 

"Byron, in painting 'dark bosoms,’ has 
often aVliiled himself of the language of that 
Book, which is a discerner of the thoughts 
and intents of the heart. Many of his finest 
poems are just expansions of that strong line 
he has borrowed from it : — 

‘ The worm that cannot sleep, and never dies.’ 

His 'Hebrew Melodies ’ have sucked out their 
sweetness from the Psalms ; and ' Cain,’ his 
noblest production, employs against God the 
power it has derived from his Book.” 

" When Shelley was drowned, it was ru- 
mored that he had a copj^ of the Bible next 
his heart ; ' and,’ says Byron, ' it would have 


The Psalms of Rede^n^tion. 361 

been no wonder, for lie was a great admirer 
of it as a composition.’ ” 

"We close a rapid glance at the more pe- 
culiar and striking of Scripture characters, by 
expressing our amazement, first, at their 
multitude ; secondly, at their variety ; third- 
ly, at the delicacy with which they are dis- 
criminated ; fourthly, at the manner in which 
they are exhibited, — so artless, brief, and 
masterly, — not by analysis or descriptions, 
but by actions and words ; fifthly, at the 
great moral and emblematical lessons which 
they teach ; sixthly, at the fact that the ma- 
jority of these characters have left du[)licates 
to this hour ; seventhly, at the honesty of the 
writers who record them ; and, lastly, at this 
significant fact, — there is one character who 
appears transcendent above them all, at once 
in purity, power, and wisdom. There are 
spots in the sun ; but there are none in thy 
beams, O Sun of Righteousness ! 

"This spotless Lamb is. He exists some- 
where. He is, we believe, at God’s right 
hand. He is preparing, as he has promised, 
to come down. We must appear at his bar. 
Our lives must be tested and our nature 



362 The Court and Cainf of David. 

searched in the light of his counteiiaiice. 
Let us prepare for this meeting, which must 
be, and may be soon, by putting on the only 
character in which it shall be safe to confront 
his eye — that, namely, of little children. 
The Divine Child must be met by ' little 
children ; ’ and amid their hosannas (as he 
entered into the ancient temple), must he 
enter again into the prei')ared and consecrated 
temple of earth and heaven. Let us listen to 
his voice, which he sends before him along 
his dread and glorious way, saying, 'Except 
ye be converted, and become as little chil- 
dren, ye shall in no wise enter into the king- 
dom of heaven.’ ” 

Mrs. Maria Jane Jewsbury, the poetess, 
and the familiar friend of Mrs. Hemans, in her 
"Letters to the Young,” addressed to a lovely 
maiden, after writing very beautifully upon 
the intellectual and spiritual glories of Kev- 
elation, closes her epistle in these gentle, 
truthful words : — 

"To this end, 1 entreat you to drink rever- 
entially, deeply, constantly, at that unsealed 
fountain of glory, wisdom, beauty, and power, 
— the eternal Word of God. 'Then I will 


The Psalms of Redemption, ' 363 

trust you to wander at will amongst the writ- 
ings of mere mortals ; for you will then bear 
al)out with you a talisman of truth, an armor 
of strength, a new sense for enjoyment, which 
will reveal to you their errors, defend you from 
their assaults, enhance and purify their worth. 

"O, dearest , when I think of you, in 

this sweet season of youth, my heart yearns 
over you with the tender solicitude of one 
who can be young as you no more ! Shall it 
be in vain? Will 3^011 give ^mur aflections, 
yet unmarked by a scar, to a world that will 
only wither them with its pleasures, or crush 
them beneath its cares? that pretends not to 
offer a blessing or a joy able to endure the 
touch of time, or shield the soul from sorrow? 
that has no heritage beyond the ever-changing 
present ; no glory that is not founded in 
vanity, and doomed to destruction? whose 
votaries, when they have loved, served, flat- 
tered, worshipped, sacrificed, through life, 
ask forijetfuluess as a last boon, and even 
that boon ask in vain? Will you surrender 
your mind, with all its budding energies, 
your sensibility yet in its spring-bloom, to 
the literature of that world which heeds not 



' 3^4 The Court and Camf of David. 

the serpent and its sting, if the flowers that 

hide them be but fair? No, dearest -, 

3^011 will not call the restraints which religion 
imposes on youth and on genius other than 
an easy 3^oke, which it is their glory and 
hapiness to wear ! You will not cast aside 
your Bible as a dull book, commanding and 
connected with duller duties; the perusal of 
it will not be the task-work and penance of 
some lonely hour of which conscience is the 
angry ruler ; you will rather esteem it 3"our 
mind’s pleasure-garden, an intellectual Eden, 
•containing what is 'good for food, and pleas- 
ant to the eyes, and to be desired to make 
one wise ; ’ whilst the Tree of Life towers in 
the midst, neither barred off by prohibition, 
nor guarded by flaming sword. Whether 
reading for 3^our soul’s profit, or 3’ our mind’s 
pleasure, 3^ou will exclaim, with TertuUian, 
' I adore the fulness of the Scriptures.’ 

"Allow me then, my dear , with an ear- 

nestness prompted by real regard, to explain 
wherein I conceive the true value of life con- 
sists ; and when, to the best of m3’' abilit3% 
I have done so, 3-ou will readily draw the 
proper inferences for yourself. 


The Psalms of Redemption, 365 

"Life, even at the longest, is short; at the 
happiest, it is full of vexation ; in its pros- 
perity, it is transitory ; at its best estate, 
vanity. ' One generation cometh and an- 
other goeth ; ’ the things we enjoy are pass- 
ing, and we are passing who enjoy them. 
The Scriptures seem at a loss how to express 
its frailty wdth sufficient force; — 'a vapor’ 

I that vanisheth away — 'a flower’ flourishing 
I and fading in a day — 'a hand-breadth’ — 'a * 
I Avatch in the night ’ — ' a sleep Avhen one 

I aw^aketh ’ — 'a dream ’ — 'a sound.’ Yet upon 

I this fleeting, changing life ; upon that portion 
of its threescore years and ten allotted to us, 
depends eternity ! — endless duration ! — ever- 
lasting existence ! It is the sw^ord hanging by 
a single quivering hair. The heathen king 
Avas Avisely reminded that he Avas mortal ; let 
us, more Avisely still, remember that Ave are 
immortal ; not only that Ave are born to die, 
but that Ave die, to live forever. And hoAv? 
Exactly in that state for Avhich our present 
life has prepared us ; either in union Avith, 
or alienation from, the exhaiistless source of 
grace, glory, and happiness — God. Were 
you to ask a number of persons Avhat was the 



366 The Court and Cam^ of David, 

true end of life, each would give you a differ- 
ent reply : and unless there was a Christian 
present, each reply would be wrong. Riches 
make themselves wings ; the breath that gives 
fame, can destroy it; pleasure is the spark 
that mounts upward and expires. In these 
is nothing enduring ; nothing that prepares 
an immortal being for future immortalit3r; 
nothing that arms the soul aofainst the changes 
of time and the inroads of affliction ; nothing 
that in the end satisfies the soul. God gave 
this world, with all its possessions, to min- 
ister to the comfort of his creature man, but 
he knew that not one of them could fill the 
void within ; and, therefore, as a wise and 
tender friend, he says to each of us, 'Give me 
thy heart.’ And it is for this heart also that 
the enem}^ of man contends. The knee may 
be bent in prayer, the ear listen to religious 
instruction, the lips repeat Scripture truth, 
the whole person seem occupied in religious 
duties — but for these he cares not ; he knows 
that the heart can alone give value to the 
offering ; and it is the heart he allures awa3^ 
Our Savior implied this when he gave us that 
infallible rule for self-examination : ' Where 



The Psalms of Redemption, 367 

your treasure is, there will your heart be 
also.’ At the great da}^ of aeeouut, when 
the book shall be opened and the Judge set, 
the question will not be. Did you say your 
praj^ers?' did you follow gayety? did you 
spend your time in frivolous employments? 
A single referenee to a single test will suffiee 
to eover with confusian, or till with humble 
confidence, to open or shut the gates of 
heaven — ' Lovest thou me ? ’ ” 

Two poets, one an honored, wicked, misan- 
thropic, and unhappy man, the other a lovely, 
Christian, afflicted Avoman, have left in mu- 
sical verse their appreciation of the Psalmist 
of Israel. Lord Byron, in his '' Hebrew 
Melodies,” sings sweetly, amid the gloom of 
his almost joyless life, of " the harp the mon- 
arch minstrel swept : ” — 

The harp the monarch minstrel swept, 

The king of men, the loved of heaven. 

Which Music hallowed while she wept 
O'er tones her heart of hearts had given. 
Redoubled be her tears, its chords are riven ! 

It softened men of iron mould. 

It gave them virtues not their own ; 

No ear so dull, no soul so cold. 

That felt not, fired not to the tone. 

Till David’s lyre grew mightier than his throne. 



368 The Coui't and Canif of David. 

It told the triumphs of our King ; 

It wafted glory to our God ; 

It made our gladdened valleys ring, 

The cedars bow, the mountains nod : 

Its sound aspired to heaven, and there abode ! 

Since then, though heard on earth no more. 
Devotion, and her daughter. Love, 

Still bid the bursting spirit soar 
To sounds that seem as from above. 

In dreams that day’s broad light cannot remove.” 

When Mrs. Hemans wrote her noble son- 
net on the ” Poetry of the Psalms,” the sound- 
notes of the eis^hteenth were rim^ino: in 

O o 00 

her S3Tnpathetic spirit’s ear. 

“Nobly thy song, O minstrel! rushed to meet 
The Eternal on the pathway of the blast. 

With darkness round him, as a mantle cast. 

And cherubim to waft his flying seat. 

Amidst the hills that smoked beneath his feet, 

With trumpet voice tliy spirit called aloud, 

And bade the trembling rocks his name repeat. 

And the bent cedars and the bursting cloud. 

But far more gloriously to earth made known 
By that high strain than by the thunder’s tone, 

Than flashing torrents or the ocean’s roll ; 

Jehovah spoke through the inbreathing fire, 

Nature’s vast realm forever to inspire 
With the deep worship of a living soul ! ” 






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